UC-NRLF 


2fl7 


OUNTA 
BIBLE 


HBH 


GIFT  OF 


MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 


BY 
J.  J.  SUMMERBELL 

Author  of  "  Scripture  Doctrine,"  "  Life  and 
Writings  of  N.  Summerbell,"  "Outline 
of  Church  History  of  the  First 
Six  Centuries,"  etc. 


BOSTON 
SHERMAN,  FRENCH  &  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1912 

.  .  .SlfERMANj   FjiJE^CH    &  COMPANY 


.' 


1       t          *  *         I 

•:;,,:A-..' 


TO 

MY  WIFE 

ISABELLA  F.  V.  SUMMERBELL 

WHOSE  INCENTIVE  AND  ASSISTANCE  MADE 

THE  WORK  OF  THIS  BOOK  A  DELIGHT 


INTRODUCTION 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  was  reading  a  late  address 
of  the  great  mountain  climber  of  the  Himalaya 
Mountains,  and  was  fascinated  by  the  charm  of 
his  modesty,  as  well  as  that  natural  attraction 
which  the  overcoming  of  difficulties  always  pre- 
sents. He  stated  that  he  believed  that  the  top 
of  the  highest  peak  there  could  never  be  reached 
by  climbing. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  his  convincing 
scientific  reasoning.  But  the  mere  statement 
of  his  opinion  excited  the  desire  to  prove  that 
it  could  be  done;  that  is,  that  he  was  in  er- 
ror in  announcing  that  anything  was  impos- 
sible, that  depended  on  endurance  of  suffering 
or  on  foresight  and  endeavor. 

There  are  mountains  more  important  than 
the  Himalayas ;  some  of  those  mentioned  in  the 
Bible.  They  have  interest  from  their  height 
and  from  their  associations.  And  some  of  them 
are  very  hard  to  climb.  But  when  the  summit 
of  a  certain  one  of  them  is  reached,  the  spirit- 
ual athlete  is  nearer  the  Great  White  Throne 
than  he  may  be  who  first  reaches  the  top  of  Ev- 
erest. 

Let  us  take  a  trip  to  these  mountains  of  the 
Bible,  without  leaving  our  quiet,  comfortable 


INTRODUCTION 

homes ;  taking  down  a  book  here  and  there  from 
our  library  shelves,,  and  studying  the  maps  and 
the  records  of  travel  and  history.  It  is  an  age 
of  excursions.  This  trip  will  not  cost  us  any- 
thing worth  saving;  only  that  which  it  is  ad- 
vantageous to  lose.  The  best  guide  book  may 
be  the  Holy  Bible.  Let  us  yield  to  the  gentle 
influence,  and  subdue  somewhat  the  desire  for 
mere  adventure. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

ARARAT .1 

HOREB 3 

MOUNT  HOR .  11 

MOUNT     NEBO 18 

MOUNT  HERMON — FIRST  CHRISTIAN  PRAYER 

MEETING     .      .      . 26 

LEBANON 36 

MOUNT  CARMEL — DOGMA  IMPORTANT  ....  40 

THE  MOUNT  OF  BEATITUDES 4*8 

MOUNT  GILBOA 52 

MOUNT  MORIAH 54 

OLIVET — JESUS'  GREATEST  TEMPTATION     .  58 

CALVARY — CAUSE  OF  THE  CRY,  "ELOI"  .      .  74 


ARARAT 

We  need  not  stop  at  Ararat:  for  the  Bible 
itself  does  not  speak  of  any  single  mountain  as 
that  memorable  stepping  stone  from  the  ante- 
diluvian world  to  the  new;  the  language  of  the 
Bible  describing  the  ark  as  resting  "upon  the 
mountains  of  Ararat" ;  as  if  Ararat  were  then 
a  region,  rather  than  a  mountain. 

And  this  wise  arrangement  of  Providence  has 
so  well  prevented  the  idolatry  that  would  prob- 
ably have  resulted  from  certainty  as  to  the 
peak,  that  mountains  as  far  apart  as  those  of 
the  Caucasus,  Ceylon,  Armenia,  Afghanistan 
and  northern  India,  have  been  selected  as  the  one 
from  which  Noah's  family  descended. 

But  if  we  accept  the  double  peak  in  Armenia, 
whose  highest  point  is  17,230  feet  above  the  sea, 
capped  with  eternal  ice  and  snow,  not  scaled 
until  1829  by  Dr.  Parrot,  as  the  right  moun- 
tain, we  will  have  legend  and  tradition  to  sup- 
port us.  The  conical  symmetry  and  sunlight 
glory  of  this  mountain,  looking  from  whose  sides 
other  mountains  seem  like  hills,  make  it  appear 
like  a  landmark ;  and  we  can  easily  imagine  that 
from  its  foothills  the  tide  of  migration  natur- 
ally flowed  early  southward  to  the  fertile  plains 
of  Babel. 


;    «       |    /•  ; 

2         MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

But  "Ararat,"  on  which  the  ark  of  Noah 
rested,  was  not  a  single  mountain,  and  is  not 
so  referred  to  in  the  Bible.  I  believe  the  word 
"Ararat"  occurs  in  but  one  other  place  (Jer. 
51:  27),  reading  thus: — 

"Call  together  against  her  the  kingdoms  of  Ara- 
rat, Minni  and  Ashkenaz." 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  I  looked  into  a 
great  religious  cyclopedia  for  the  word,  and 
find  that  it  is  not  treated  at  all. 


HOREB 

Let  us  now  go  to  Horeb,  the  "Mount  of 
God,"  between  the  two  arms  of  the  Red  Sea, 
one  of  which  the  Israelites  crossed  by  the  help 
of  God  in  their  escape  from  the  bondage  of 
Egypt.  It  was  there  that  God  gave  the  ten 
commandments  to  men,  by  the  hand  of  Moses. 
It  is  the  mountain  to  which  Elijah  went  forty 
days  and  forty  nights,  in  his  great  flight  from 
the  land  where  his  duty  lay.  And  it  was  there 
that  God  asked  him,  "What  doest  thou  here, 
Elijah?"  Generations  earlier,  Moses,  who  also 
had  fled  from  the  land  of  duty,  after  having 
killed  an  Egyptian,  led  his  flocks  nearer  the 
foot  of  this  mountain,  and  saw  a  bush  that 
burned  with  fire  and  was  not  consumed. 

It  is  distinguished  as  no  other  height  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  except  Mt.  Calvary,  and 
that  other  elevation  where  Jesus  delivered  the 
discourse  called  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

How  strange  it  is  that  the  exact  location  of 
these  mountains  is  somewhat  uncertain;  al- 
though events  happened  on  them  that  have  in- 
fluenced the  destinies  of  the  world  more  than  any 
other !  It  must  be  that  the  same  Jehovah  that 
has  ever  veiled  his  face,  the  same  Jehovah  that 

3 


4          MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

prevented  any  likeness  of  his  Son  Jesus  from 
being  preserved  by  his  disciples,  has  carefully 
kept  uncertain  to  us  the  exact  places  of  the 
ratification  of  the  Old  Covenant  and  the  New 
Covenant;  influenced  by  the  same  motives  that 
caused  him  to  keep  secret  the  grave  of  his  serv- 
ant Moses. 

But  the  tract  in  which  Horeb  of  Sinai  must 
have  stood  is  a  wild,  dreary  and  barren  region. 
There  are  crags  and  precipices,  separated  by 
sandy  defiles  so  narrow  that  they  seem  to  make 
the  opposing  cliffs  frown  on  each  other;  all 
desolate  and  terrific.  There  are  springs  and 
streams  flowing  among  the  crags,  where, 
probably,  the  thousands  of  Israelites,  while 
waiting  for  the  law,  secured  water  for  their 
flocks  and  herds.  Some  traveler,  whose  name 
I  have  forgotten,  without  doubt  concerning  this 
part  of  Arabia  Petraea,  said,  "It  would  seem  as 
if  Arabia  Petraea  had  once  been  an  ocean  of 
lava,  and  while  its  waves  were  running  moun- 
tains high,  it  was  suddenly  commanded  to  stand 
still." 

Thus,  blackened  peaks  of  naked  granite, 
stand  sentinel  over  sheer  precipices  more  than  a 
thousand  feet  in  height.  In  one  place  we  may 
pass  through  a  wild  defile  into  a  level  plain,  two 
miles  long  by  two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide.  Here 
we  may  assume  that  Sinai  frowns  down :  for  the 
conditions  of  the  Bible  history  may  here  be 


HOREB  5 

met.  The  plain  comes  to  the  foot  of  the  ab- 
rupt mountain,  that  might  be  "touched,"  or 
not,  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  Lord. 
The  desolate  cliffs  surrounding  this  space,  so 
suitable  for  a  camp  for  many  thousands,  must 
have  lent  help  to  Moses  in  his  effort  to  bring 
the  Israelites  into  the  disposition  of  awe  and 
reverence,  suitable  for  receiving  the  law  that 
has  become  the  "constitution  of  the  civilized 
world." 

Since  writing  the  foregoing,  I  have  found, 
in  the  pages  of  the  "Common  People"  portion 
of  the  "Christian,"  of  Boston,  in  its  issue  of 
April,  1911,  probably  from  the  pen  of  the  son 
of  my  friend,  H.  L.  Hastings,  the  following 
matter,  which  may  further  illustrate  the  pe- 
culiarities of  the  mountain : — 

"THE  MOUNT  OF  GOD.  ...  Few  spots 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  are  invested  with  such 
deep  and  solemn  interest  as  that  barren  mountain 
peak  where  Moses  talked  with  God, 

'When  he  proclaimed  his  holy  law, 

And  struck  the  trembling  tribes  with  awe.' 

"Nearly  in  the  center  of  the  now  desolate  penin- 
sula which  stretches  between  the  projecting  horns 
of  the  Red  Sea,  stands  a  triangular  ledge  of  gran- 
ite, griinstein,  and  porphyry  rocks,  rising  between 
8,000  and  9,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  stretching  over  an  extent  of  from  twenty  to 


6          MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

thirty  miles,  rising  at  different  points  into  lofty 
peaks.  In  the  northwesterly  portion  there  are 
the  five  peaks  or  heights  of  Serbal,  6,342  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Eastward  of  this,  some 
twenty  miles,  is  Jebel  Katherin,  rising  to  the 
height  of  8,163  feet  above  the  sea  level.  Beside 
this  is  Jebel  Musa,  or  Moses'  Mount,  about  7,000 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea;  and  a  little  to  the 
north  of  this  rises  Ras-es-Sufsafeh,  one  of  the 
grandest  of  all  the  desert  peaks. 

"There  have  been  differences  of  opinion  as  to 
the  particular  mountain  on  which  the  law  was 
given,  but  the  doubts  seem  now  well  nigh  dispelled, 
and  travelers  recognize  one  mountain  which  pos- 
sesses all  the  natural  features  described  in  con- 
nection with  the  giving  of  the  law.  It  was  a 
'mount  that  might  be  touched,'  or  to  the  base  of 
which  the  multitude  could  approach,  unless  fenced 
away;  and  it  must  have  been  a  mountain  having 
an  area  in  front  of  it  sufficiently  large  to  give  room 
for  the  vast  multitude  of  the  Israelites  who  gazed 
upon  the  tremendous  scene,  when  the  mountain 
was  'altogether  on  a  smoke/  " 

The  mountain  in  which  we  are  interested  is 
probably  that  now  called  by  the  Arabs  Ras-es- 
Sufsafeh. 

From  the  higher  parts  of  these  mountains 
can  be  seen  arms  of  the  Red  Sea,  a  part  of 
Egypt,  whose  mighty  army  had  so  lately  dis- 
appeared in  the  waters,  and  territory  within 
a  few  days'  journey  of  Jerusalem.  I  have 


HOREB  7 

sometimes  wondered  if  Moses,  when  looking 
from  those  high  peaks,  did  not  gaze  fixedly  and 
long  into  Egypt  (with  that  eye  that  even  forty 
years  afterward  was  "not  dim"),  to  discover 
the  movements  of  new  Egyptian  armies  that 
might  be  mobilized  and  hurried  this  time  to 
compass  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  and  fall  upon  the 
Hebrews  while  still  in  this  desolate  region  be- 
tween the  two  arms  of  the  Red'  Sea,  to  bring 
them  back  again  into  bondage.  For  on  these 
heights  Moses  spent  days  and  weeks,  during 
which  the  Egyptians  might  have  gathered  fresh 
troops  for  a  new  pursuit  of  the  Israelites,  had 
not  the  terrible  calamity  to  the  military  related 
in  the  book  of  Exodus  awed  the  nation  into 
deep  fear  of  their  escaped  slaves  lingering  mys- 
teriously so  long  so  near  their  borders. 

On  these  peaks,  from  which  Moses  might 
look  into  Egypt,  he  lingered  long  and  often. 
But  probably  it  was  only  now  and  then  that  he 
looked  into  the  land  of  bondage:  for  around 
him  the  trumpet  was  sounding,  the  lightning 
was  flashing,  and  the  thunder  of  God  was 
rolling.  From  the  midst  of  scenes  of  sublimity 
the  ten  commandments  were  coming.  Here 
probably  was  Sinai;  no  forest  or  villages 
among  its  black  crags,  towering  upward  7,500 
feet,  or  more.  The  mountain  rose  abruptly 
from  the  plain;  but  must  not  be  "touched." 
The  awe  of  the  Israelites,  caused  by  that  com- 


8          MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

mandment  combined  with  the  trumpet  blasts, 
the  lightning  flashes  and  the  thunder  roars  of 
the  mountain,  gradually  died  away  in  the  long 
waiting  for  Moses  to  come  down.  Though  the 
mountain  smoked  and  trembled,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  covered  it,  imperceptibly  the  feel- 
ings of  fear  in  the  hearts  of  the  Israelites  died 
away,  and  the  merely  carnal  sense  asserted  it- 
self in  the  thought  that  all  the  impressive 
phenomena  of  the  mountain  were  only  the  effect 
of  natural  causes ;  an(i  it  may  have  seemed  to 
the  people  that  possibly  Moses  himself,  in  the 
mountain's  convulsions  (that  might  reasonably 
be  attributed  to  volcanic  activity,  as  far  as 
they  knew),  might  have  lost  his  life. 

At  least,  the  Israelites  wearily  said,  "As  for 
this  Moses,  the  man  that  brought  us  up  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  we  know  not  what  is  become 
of  him."  The  time  had  been  so  long!  They 
forgot  that  before  Moses  brought  them  to 
Horeb,  he  had  smitten  the  rock  at  Rephidim, 
not  far  away,  and  water  had  come  for  them  and 
their  flocks  in  time  of  need.  They  did  not 
reason  that  the  God  who  had  been  their  salva- 
tion in  distress,  would  continue  to  protect 
them;  they  "knew  not  what  had  become  of" 
Moses.  They  had  trusted  in  man,  and  the 
man  had  disappeared.  Man  will  always  dis- 
appear, if  he  is  our  final  reliance.  If  we  trust 
in  man,  or  his  sciences,  or  his  achievements,  or 


HOREB  9 

his  riches,  or  his  intellect,  or  his  prestige,  the 
time  will  come  of  weariness,  of  loss  and  bewil- 
derment. The  Israelites  had  lost  Moses. 
They  made  a  golden  calf,  and  worshiped  it  at 
the  foot  of  Horeb,  on  whose  heights  Moses  was 
communing  with  the  Lord. 

But  Moses  returned.  He  ground  the  calf 
to  powder.  The  fury  of  the  prophet  subdued 
the  people  again.  And  there  they  stayed,  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountain,  though  they  had 
made  a  god  to  go  before  them.  They  stayed 
at  the  foot  of  that  mounain ;  they  who  wanted 
to  travel;  they  who  were  progressive  and  mod- 
ern. They  knew  that  the  most  learned  men  of 
Egypt  honored  calves.  They  felt  like  being 
learned  and  cultured;  and  desired  to  escape 
from  the  superstition  of  honoring  God,  whose 
existence  they  could  not  prove  by  material  dem- 
onstrations. To  honor  an  invisible  God  seemed 
so  much  like  believing  in  ghosts  and  fairies ;  and 
they  chose  to  worship  something  material. 
That  was  the  real  reason  why  they  had  made  a 
golden  calf. 

But  Moses  ground  it  to  powder,  and  made 
them  drink  it.  He  gave  them  solid  (liquid) 
proof  that  they  had  just  had  a  god.  And  then 
he  left  them  again  and  went  up  into  the  moun- 
tain. And  they  had  nothing  that  they  could 
see,  that  they  could  worship:  for  Moses  in  his 
anger  at  their  making  a  god,  whose  existence 


10       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

could  scientifically  be  proved,  dashed  against 
the  rocks  the  tables  of  divine  law  he  had 
brought  down. 

But  later,  Moses  came  again  down  from  that 
mountain  with  law  on  stone ;  "a  law  cloud-em- 
broidered ;  a  law  fire-begirt" ;  a  law  stony  in 
terms,  angular  with  negatives,  like  a  bullet  in 
its  directness  of  piercing.  It  did  not  carry 
along  in  itself  the  proof  that  it  had  come  from 
God ;  but  it  was  not  unworthy  of  God.  And  if 
that  law  of  Horeb  were  everywhere  obeyed  the 
human  family  would  live  on  a  level  not  far  be- 
low the  angels,  and  the  world  would  again  be- 
come the  garden  of  Eden. 

And  Mount  Horeb,  with  all  its  desolation, 
shines  with  the  glory  of  the  decalogue.  The 
earth  is  illuminated  with  Sinai's  stony  bright- 
ness. Its  beams  and  rays  shine  over  all  Chris- 
tian lands,  made  softer  and  sweeter  year  by 
year  and  century  after  century  by  the  radiance 
descending  from  Calvary's  lowly  height,  that 
somehow  seems  to  mingle  and  temper  and  sub- 
due Horeb's  stony  glare;  so  that  the  law  of 
stone  becomes  a  commandment  of  affection. 
And  we  can  more  easily  walk  in  heaven's  light 
shining  through  the  loving  death  of  Jesus. 

Now  let  us  go  to  Mount  Nebo  and  Mount 
Hor ;  and  go  more  slowly  and  tread  more  softly ; 
for  they  are  the  death  chambers  of  two  proph- 
ets, Aaron  and  Moses. 


MOUNT  HOR 

If  a  traveler  wished  to  go  from  Mount  Sinai, 
or  Horeb,  to  visit  the  mountain  where  Moses 
died,  he  would  probably  arrange  his  journey  in 
such  a  way  as  to  pass  by  M,ount  Hor,  where 
Aaron,  the  brother  of  Moses,  died,  no  matter 
which  one  of  the  two  mountains  in  our  time 
named  by  critics  be  accepted  as  the  correct 
one.  For  both  mountains  claimed  by  the 
critics  to  be  Mount  Hor  fulfill  the  conditions 
of  the  Bible  history  as  closely  as  would  be 
reasonable  after  the  lapse  of  thousands  of 
years.  Both  mountains  have  bold  and  strik- 
ing appearance  on  approaching  them;  and  the 
modern  traveler,  moving  through  ridges  of 
light  drifting  sand,  or  over  surfaces  made  un- 
even by  stones,  would  frequently  ask  himself  if 
the  Hebrews  in  the  time  of  Aaron  endured  such 
hardships. 

We  do  not  stop  to  discuss  which  of  the  two 
mountains  is  the  correct  one :  for  in  either  case 
Mount  Hor  is  the  conspicuous  one  for  a  long 
distance. 

As  the  Christian  traveler  would  approach, 
he  would  draw  forth  his  pocket  Bible,  and  read 
the  following  dignified  and  impressive  account, 
in  Numbers  20:  g£-£9,  of  the  death  of  Aaron: — 

"And    they   journeyed    from    Kadesh:    and    the 
11 


12       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

children  of  Israel,  even  the  whole  congregation, 
came  unto  Mount  Hor.  And  Jehovah  spake  unto 
Moses  and  Aaron  in  Mount  Hor,  by  the  border  of 
the  land  of  Edomj  saying,  Aaron  shall  be  gathered 
unto  his  people;  for  he  shall  not  enter  into  the 
land  which  I  have  given  unto  the  children  of  Is- 
rael, because  ye  rebelled  against  my  word  at  the 
waters  of  Meribah.  Take  Aaron  and  Eleazar  his 
son,  and  bring  them  unto  Mount  Hor;  and  strip 
Aaron  of  his  garments,  and  put  them  upon  Elea- 
zar his  son,  and  Aaron  shall  be  gathered  unto  his 
people,  and  shall  die  there.  And  Moses  did  as 
Jehovah  commanded :  and  they  went  up  into  Mount 
Hor  in  the  sight  of  all  the  congregation.  And 
Moses  stripped  Aaron  of  his  garments,  and  put 
them  upon  Eleazar  his  son;  and  Aaron  died  there 
on  the  top  of  the  mount:  and  Moses  and  Eleazar 
came  down  from  the  mount.  And  when  all  the 
congregation  saw  that  Aaron  was  dead,  they  wept 
for  Aaron  thirty  days,  even  all  the  house  of  Israel.'* 

Aaron  was  at  his  death  one  hundred  and 
twenty  three  years  old.  It  does  not  appear 
that  he  died  of  old  age,  nor  of  nervous  prostra- 
tion; but  at  the  command  of  the  Lord;  like  a 
child  falling  asleep  in  the  arms  of  its  mother. 
He  went  up  into  the  mountain  to  die,  and  died. 
His  high  priest's  garments  he  would  need  no 
more;  and  he  suffered  Moses  to  remove  them. 
Possibly  with  his  own  fingers  he  adjusted  them 
on  Eleazar  becomingly;  while  doing  so,  giving 
advice  concerning  their  care. 


MOUNT  HOR  13 

He  had  served  as  priest  a  full  generation. 
He  had  been  ready  of  tongue,  when  Moses  was 
slow  of  speech.  He  had  gone  with  his  brother 
into  the  land  of  Egypt  before  the  greatest  mon- 
arch of  what  was  then  the  western  world,  and 
demanded  that  a  race  of  slaves  be  allowed  to 
escape.  But  yet  he  had  been  so  dependent  on 
the  integrity  of  Moses,  his  younger  brother, 
that  when  he  had  been  deprived  of  his  help  for 
a  time,  as  at  Sinai,  he  had  yielded  to  the  ma- 
terialistic reasonings  of  the  Hebrews,  who  had 
already  lost  their  belief  in  the  miracles  and 
providence  of  an  invisible  God,  and  made  them 
a  golden  calf.  In  all  ages  human  beings  easily 
lose  their  touch  with  invisible  truth.  This  is 
what  is  to  be  expected  of  the  animal  life,  or  the 
carnal.  Dogs  do  not  believe  in  God.  Swine, 
as  far  as  we  understand  them,  do  not  have 
prophets.  Saloon-keepers  do  not  keep  open 
Bibles  on  the  bar.  And  the  nearer  man  comes 
to  living  the  life  of  the  brute,  the  less  inclined 
he  is  to  obey  the  prophet, ;  though  more  inclined 
to  superstitions  based  on  the  direction  of  the 
new  moon  from  his  right  shoulder,  or  the  hedge- 
hog's shadow  on  February  2d.  .  .  .  Yes; 
Aaron  had  made  for  the  Hebrews  a  golden  calf : 
for  Moses  their  prophet  had  disappeared,  and 
their  Jehovah  was  invisible. 

But  it  does  not,  from  the  narrative  in  Num- 
bers, appear  that  the  Lord  treasured  up  for 


14       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

vengeance  the  idolatry  of  the  golden  calf;  but, 
at  the  waters  of  Meribah,  Moses  and  Aaron 
had  possibly  assumed  to  themselves  a  power  in 
bringing  water  from  the  rock  for  the  people 
to  drink  that  obscured  the  glory  that  should 
have  gone  solely  to  that  One  who  is  really  able 
to  work  a  miracle.  The  divine  act  was  not 
emphasized,  and  Moses  and  Aaron  seemed  as 
if  bringing  water  from  the  rock  by  some  physi- 
cal blow  of  their  own. 

Seldom,  in  the  history  of  mankind,  has  any 
man  who  has  had  the  help  of  God  ignored  that 
help  and  allowed  the  people  to  believe  that  the 
wonderful  work  was  human.  Usually  men 
do  the  reverse:  and  attribute  to  the  divine  that 
which  is  merely  human.  But  in  this  connec- 
tion we  are  reminded  of  that  other  class  of 
mankind:  those  who  do  not  have  the  help  of 
God  because  of  their  worldly  spirit,  or  real  sin- 
fulness.  In  their  malice,  or  hate  of  spiritual 
forces,  these  real  enemies  of  righteousness, 
when  a  great  and  good  work  is  done  for  human- 
ity by  the  Spirit  of  God,  attribute  it  to  evil 
agencies.  This  is  the  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost;  in  its  very  nature  an  insult  to  God. 
It  says  to  God,  This  wonder  is  not  the  gift  of 
thy  love,  but  is  the  work  of  the  devil.  It  is 
easily  seen  that  this  is  a  dangerous  sin. 

But  it  is  always  dangerous  to  ignore  the  dig- 
nity or  honor  of  the  Most  High.  And  at  the 


MOUNT  HOR  15 

waters  of  Meribah  when  Aaron  seemed  to  the 
Israelites  to  perform  the  wonder,  which  realty 
God's  mercy  had  given  to  the  thirsty  people, 
he  did  not  immediately  turn  the  thought  of  the 
people  to  their  divine  Deliverer.  This  was  dis- 
pleasing to  heaven.  God  demands  his  own 
honor.  Everything,  in  the  final  analysis,  de- 
pends on  God.  Everything,  in  the  beginning, 
has  sprung  from  God.  Such  reasons  made  it 
necessary  for  God  to  make  the  first  command- 
ment to  refer  to  himself:  "Thou  shalt  have  no 
other  gods  before  me."  "In  the  beginning, 
God  I" 

But  Aaron  was  neglectful  of  the  divine 
Helper.  Therefore  he  was  forbidden  to  enter 
the  promised  land.  What  a  sweet  privilege  it 
would  have  been  for  him  to  have  gone  in  with 
the  people  he  loved,  and  seen  the  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey ;  where  long  before  Abra- 
ham had  led  his  flocks  and  fought  his  battles. 
It  was  in  that  land,  on  Mount  Moriah,  that 
Abraham,  in  obedience  to  the  mysterious  com- 
mand of  God,  had  been  about  to  offer  his  son 
Isaac  as  a  sacrifice,  when  his  hand  was  stayed, 
and  God  provided  the  victim.  How  strange  it 
has  been  that  some  of  the  most  exalted  experi- 
ences of  the  most  spiritual  servants  of  God 
have  been  connected  with  the  mountains ! 

And  Aaron  was  to  die  on  Mount  Hor.  He 
was  a  man  of  quick  speech  and  ready  tongue; 


16       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

but  he  made  no  reply  when  he  heard  the  sen- 
tence of  Jehovah. 

There  was  another  time  when  Aaron  held  his 
peace  under  judgment  of  the  Most  High: — 

At  the  time  of  the  consecration  of  the  taber- 
nacle, his  sons,  Nadab  and  Abihu,  had  offered 
strange  fire  before  Jehovah,  "which  he  had  not 
commanded  them."  And  fire  came  forth  from 
before  Jehovah  and  killed  them.  Then  Moses 
uttered  words  explaining  the  punishment  of 
Aaron's  sons.  But  Aaron  made  no  reply;  he 
"held  his  peace."  So  now  he  is  silent. 

Clad  in  his  dignified  robes  of  office  as  high 
priest,  serene  and  composed,  with  his  brother 
Moses,  and  his  own  son  Eleazar,  he  ascends  the 
mountain,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people.  His 
life  has  proved  to  him  one  thing ;  that  God  must 
be  obeyed.  The  ascent  of  the  mountain  is  ex- 
ceedingly steep  and  toilsome ;  but  Aaron  makes 
no  protest,  though  he  is  one  hundred  and  twenty 
three  years  old,  and  now  going  to  his  own  fu- 
neral. He  makes  no  plea  to  die  at  ease  in  his 
tent ;  but  obedient  now  as  a  child  he  goes  with 
Moses  and  Eleazar  to  the  top  of  the  mountain. 
There  his  garments  are  removed  and  placed  on 
the  son.  In  the  camp  of  Israel  many  hearts 
must  have  ached  as  he  climbed  the  mountain, 
and  many  lips  must  have  blessed  him.  With 
all  his  faults  he  was  their  own  priest.  Many 
of  his  faults  were  their  faults.  Nothwith- 


MOUNT  HOR  17 

standing  them,  he  was  one  who  a  generation  be- 
fore had  boldly  entered  the  palace  of  Pharaoh, 
to  demand  their  freedom.  He  had  been  on  their 
side  all  the  way  along,  from  the  time  when 
Moses  undertook  to  deliver  them.  Their  grief 
for  their  great  high  priest  was  made  more  in- 
tense at  the  foot  of  Mount  Hor  by  the  thought 
that  in  the  years  now  ending  there  had  been 
times  when  they  had  been  so  impatient  with 
him  that  they  were  ready  to  stone  him.  But 
now  the  multitudes  gazed  at  the  sides  and  top 
of  Mount  Hor  in  deep  silence,  with  earnest 
grief,  and  reverential  awe.  For  Aaron  is  dy- 
ing— is  ascending.  His  death-bed  is  a  moun- 
tain. His  canopy  is  the  sky.  Stripped  of  his 
official  garments,  his  last  look  is  not  from  some 
human  window,  asking  relatives  to  stand  aside 
to  let  him  see  once  more  the  green  meadow  and 
the  winding  river;  but  he  looks  from  the  moun- 
tain top  over  a  barren  desert  south  of  the 
Dead  Sea.  If  he  sees,  west  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
the  low  lying  mountains  of  the  south  of  Judea, 
it  is  not  mentioned :  for  Mount  Hor  is  the  more 
interesting  this  day,  since  Aaron  dies  there. 
Mount  Hor  is  his  death-bed  and  his  tomb. 


MOUNT  NEBO 

If  Mount  Hor,  where  Aaron  died,  attracted 
a  languid  interest,  notwithstanding  the  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  identity  of  the  elevation  up 
which  the  Israelites  saw  him  go  with  his  brother 
and  son,  that  interest  will  possibly  be  greater 
when  we  search  for  the  peak  from  which  the 
great  Moses  viewed  the  promised  land  before  he 
died.  On  almost  any  expedition  from  Mount 
Hor  to  Mount  Nebo,  or  Pisgah,  which  is  over 
against  Jericho,  among  frightful,  rocky,  precip- 
itous hills,  we  might  leave  the  Dead  Sea  at  our 
left.  That  body  of  water  must  be  mentioned, 
as  an  important  part  of  the  landscape,  with 
all  its  depressing  influence.  Lying  1,300  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean,  no  re- 
freshing breeze  helps  the  traveler.  Its  water  is 
so  salt  that  the  spray  kills  ordinary  vegetation, 
notwithstanding  the  great  heat.  Desolation  is 
the  appropriate  word  for  most  of  the  scenery 
here.  The  effect  of  it  can  be  understood  from 
the  following  description  of  Lieut.  Lynch,  of 
one  of  his  experiences  during  his  exploration : — 

"A  light  air  from  the  south  induced  me  to  aban- 
don the  awning,  and  I  set  the  sail,  to  save  the  men 
from  laboring  at  the  oars.     A  light  tapping  of  the 
18 


MOUNT  NEBO  19 

ripple  of  the  bow,  and  a  faint  line  of  foam,  and 
bubbles  at  her  side,  were  the  only  indications  that 
the  boat  was  in  motion.  The  other  boat  was  a  mile 
astern,  and  all  around  partook  of  the  stillness  of 
death.  The  weather  was  intensely  hot,  and  even 
the  light  air  that  urged  us  almost  insensibly,  had 
something  oppressing  in  its  flaws  of  heat.  .  .  . 
"The  glitter  from  the  water,  with  its  multitude 
of  reflections  (for  each  ripple  was  a  mirror),  con- 
tributed much  to  our  discomfort;  yet  the  water 
was  not  transparent,  but  of  the  color  of  diluted 
absinthe.  The  black  chasms  and  rock  peaks,  em- 
bossed with  grimness,  were  around  and  above  us, 
veiled  in  a  transparent  mist,  like  visible  air,  that 
made  them  seem  unreal;  and  1,300  feet  below,  our 
sounding  lead  had  struck  upon  the  very  plain  of 
Siddim,  shrouded  in  slime  and  salts.  While  busy 
with  such  thoughts,  my  companions  had  yielded  to 
the  oppressive  drowsiness  and  now  lay  before  me 
in  every  attitude  of  a  sleep  that  had  more  of  stu- 
por in  it  than  of  repose.  In  the  awful  aspect 
which  this  sea  presented,  when  we  first  beheld  it,  I 
seemed  to  read  the  inscription  over  the  gates  of 
Dante's  Inferno,  'Ye  who  enter  here  leave  hope 
behind/  Now,  as  I  sat  alone  in  my  wakefulness, 
the  feeling  of  awe  returned:  and  as  I  looked  upon 
the  sleepers,  I  felt  the  hair  of  my  flesh  stand  up 
as  Job's  did"  .  .  .  (Lynch  was  wrong;  this 
was  Eliphaz  the  Temanite)  .  .  .  "when  a 
spirit  passed  before  his  face;  for  to  my  disturbed 
imagination,  there  was  something  fearful  in  the 
expression  of  their  inflamed  and  swollen  visages. 
The  fierce  angel  of  disease  seemed  hovering  over 


20       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

them,  and  I  read  the  forerunner  of  his  presence  in 
their  flushed  and  feverish  sleep.  The  solitude,  the 
scene,  my  own  thoughts,  were  too  much;  I  felt,  as 
I  sat  thus  steering  the  drowsily  moving  boat,  as  if 
I  were  Charon  ferrying  not  the  souls,  but  the 
bodies  of  the  departed  and  the  damned,  over  some 
infernal  lake,  and  could  endure  it  no  longer;  but 
breaking  from  my  listlessness,  ordered  the  sails 
to  be  furled  and  the  oars  resumed;  action  seemed 
better  than  such1  unnatural  stupor."  (Travels  and 
Adventures,  pp.  219-220.) 

Along  such  depressing  scenes,  or  among 
rocks  and  hills  appropriately  encompassing 
such  waters,  Moses  may  have  passed  during  the 
last  days  of  his  earthly  life.  And  such  scenes 
may  have  served  to  increase  his  mental  or1 
spiritual  depression,  caused  by  God's  sentence 
upon  him  for  his  sin  at  the  waters  of  Meribah ; 
that  he  should  not  enter  the  Promised  Land 
with  the  beloved  people  whom  he  had  led  to  its 
border. 

Moses  felt  deeply  this  sentence  of  his  God. 
Like  a  child,  petted  by  a  loving  father,  he  plead 
with  God  to  change  the  decree.  How  often  he 
importuned  his  heavenly  Father  we  do  not 
know ;  but  it  was  so  often  that  God  at  last  told 
him  to  quit,  to  cease ;  like  a  mother  wearied  by 
the  teasing  of  a  petted  child.  For  we  read  the 
following  complaint  of  Moses  about  it,  to  the 
children  of  Israel,  when  he  attributes  his  mis- 
fortune, in  part,  to  them : — 


MOUNT  NEBO  21 

"And  I  besought  Jehovah  at  that  time,  saying, 
O  Lord  Jehovah,  thou  hast  begun  to  show  thy 
servant  thy  greatness,  and  thy  strong  hand:  for 
what  god  is  there  in  heaven  or  in  earth,  that  can 
do  according  to  thy  work,  and  according  to 
thy  mighty  acts?  Let  me  go  over,  I  pray  thee, 
and  see  the  good  land  that  is  beyond  the  Jordan, 
that  goodly  mountain,  and  Lebanon.  But  Jeho- 
vah was  wroth  with  me  for  your  sakes,  and  heark- 
ened not  unto  me;  and  Jehovah  said  unto  me,  Let 
it  suffice  thee;  speak  no  more  unto  me  of  this  mat- 
ter. Get  thee  up  unto  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and*lift 
up  thine  eyes  westward,  and  northward,  and  south- 
ward, and  eastward,  and  behold  with  thine  eyes: 
for  thou  shalt  not  go  over  this  Jordan.  But 
charge  Joshua,  and  encourage  him,  and  strengthen 
him;  for  he  shall  go  over  before  this  people,  and 
he  shall  cause  them  to  inherit  the  land  which  thou 
shalt  see"  (Deut.  3:23-28). 

Thus  his  teasing  of  God  had  no  success,  al- 
though God  loved  him  so.  God  told  him  to 
stop  talking  about  it;  but  he  comforted  his 
child,  by  promising1  to  let  him  see  the  land  from 
a  distance. 

We  may  easily  understand  that  Moses 
stopped  talking  about  it,  when  he  received  from 
God  the  command  we  have  quoted;  that  is, 
stopped  talking  to  God  about  it,  although  he 
told  his  sorrow  to  the  people. 

And  when  the  time  came  for  the  people  to 
cross  over,  and  for  Moses  to  die,  he  received 


22       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  following  stern,  final  command  from  God: 
"Get  thee  up  into  this  mountain  Abarim,  unto 
Mount  Nebo  which  is  in  the  land  of  Moab,  that  is 
over  against  Jericho,  and  behold  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan, which  I  give  unto  the  children  of  Israel  for 
a  possession:  and  die  in  the  mount  whither  thou 
goest  up,  and  be  gathered  unto  thy  people;  as 
Aaron  thy  brother  died  in  Mount  Hor,  and  was 
gathered  unto  his  people:  because  ye  trespassed 
against  me  among  the  children  of  Israel  at  the 
waters  of  Meribah  of  Kadesh  in  the  wilderness  of 
Zin;  because  ye  sanctified  me  not  in  the  midst  of 
the  children  of  Israel.  Yet  thou  shalt  see  the  land 
before  thee;  but  thou  shalt  not  go  thither  into  the 
land  which  I  give  the  children  of  Israel"  (Deut. 
32:49-52). 

Moses  had  been  a  lawgiver  to  the  Israelites ; 
their  commander  in  chief  in  battle ;  the  ambas- 
sador at  Pharaoh's  court ;  the  messenger  of 
God  in  miracles ;  their  bard  of  almost  divine 
imagination ;  their  preeminent  statesman  in 
administration;  their  judge  when  they  sinned; 
their  uncrowned  king,  ,  whose  scepter  was  the 
rod  that  parted  the  waves  of  the  Red  Sea. 
For  forty  years  he  had  been  their  leader  and 
savior.  Often  they  had  rebelled  against  him, 
and  as  often  been  subdued  to  humiliating  sub- 
mission. His  tongue  had  lashed  them  in  re- 
buke ;  and  had  more  sweetly  commanded  them 
to  teach  his  law  to  their  children.  With  a 
prophet's  confidence  he  had  assured  them  of 


MOUNT  NEBO  23 

the  Promised  Land,  and  for  a  generation  had 
led  them  to  and  fro  in  a  wilderness,  where  their 
hopes  were  encouraged  or  disappointed,  only  in 
less  degree  than  his  own. 

And  now,  as  the  time  approaches  when  they 
are  about  to  enter,  Moses  is  commanded  to 
look  and  die. 

Does  this  mean,  that  for  the  truly  great,  life 
is  a  tragedy?  Does  it  mean,  after  John  the 
Baptist  has  clearly  pointed  out  "the  Lamb  of 
God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world," 
and  proved  himself  the  greatest  of  men,  that  he 
must  die  in  prison  on  account  of  the  hatred 
of  an  insignificant  woman  whom  he  had  ac- 
cused of  sin?  Does  it  mean  that  when  Paul 
has  fought  the  good  fight  he  must  be  "ready 
to  be  offered?"  Does  it  mean  that  when 
Stephen  has  borne  his  great  witness  he  must 
fall  "asleep"  under  a  shower  of  stones?  Does 
it  mean  that  as  soon  as  Jesus  has  fully  founded 
his  kingdom  he  must  be  crowned  with  thorns 
and  throned  on  a  cross? 

No ;  it  only  means  that  God  knows  of  better 
things  than  earthly  triumphs.  God  can  af- 
ford to  let  his  children  suffer  for  a  time,  be- 
cause he  is  great  enough  to  set  things  right,  no 
matter  what  the  disaster  of  earth  may  be. 
God  is  wise  enough  to  make  "our  light  afflic- 
tion, which  is  but  for  a  moment,  work  out  for 
us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 


24t       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

glory."  God  says,  "Let  there  be  light." 
Therefore,  knowing  the  greatness  of  God  as 
few  men  of  earth  have  done,  Moses  obeyed 
without  a  murmur.  His  sister,  Miriam,  the 
prophetess,  is  dead.  His  brother,  Aaron,  the 
high  priest,  is  dead.  Moses,  120  years  old, 
but  with  eye  undimmed  and  his  natural 
strength  unabated  turns  to  the  children  of 
Israel  and  blesses  them,  assuring  them  that 
"under  them  are  the  everlasting  arms."  From 
the  plains  of  Moab,  where  they  are  encamped, 
he  goes  with  steady  step  to  Nebo,  over  against 
Jericho,  and  Jehovah  shows  him  the  land  of 
Canaan,  north  and  south,  east  and  west ;  from 
the  Waters  of  Merom  to  the  brine  of  the  Dead 
Sea;  from  the  "palm  trees"  of  Jericho  and 
east  of  there,  to  the  vineyards  of  Ashkelon  on 
the  west. 

I  have  often  imagined  that  Moses'  un- 
dimmed eye  had  greater  help  than  physical 
keenness:  for  in  vain  so  far  have  travelers 
sought  a  peak  over  against  Jericho,  whence 
they  could  see  all  Canaan,  even  to  Merom  and 
the  Mediterranean. 

When  Moses  told  the  awestruck  Israelites 
that  he  was  going  to  the  top  of  Pisgah  to  sur- 
vey the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Promised 
Land,  of  which  he  had  so  often  talked  to  them, 
and  that  God  would  give  him  a  vision  of  Ca- 
naan before  they  could  see  it,  and  that  God 


MOUNT  NEBO  25 

would  give  clear  sight  of  all  the  land  to  his  six 
score  years  old  eyes,  and  then  tenderly  close 
them  in  death,  because  he  had  sinned  at  Meri- 
bah,  many  a  stalwart  soldier  must  have  felt  his 
heart  beat  with  dread,  and  many  a  maiden  must 
have  caught  her  breath  in  pity. 

They  saw  him  go  away  from  the  camp;  they 
saw  him  climb  the  heights.  They  knew  that 
all  he  had  told  them  would  come  to  pass:  for 
his  every  prediction  for  two  score  years  had 
been  fulfilled. 

And  so  Moses  looked  at  Canaan.  Then  God 
closed  his  eyes,  kissed  away  his  breath,  and 
buried  him. 


MOUNT  HERMON 
FIRST  CHRISTIAN  PRAYER  MEETING 

Going  northward  from  Mount  Nebo,  where 
Moses  died,  all  the  time  keeping  the  River 
Jordan,  the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  the  Waters  of 
Merom  at  our  left,  we  reach  the  city  of  Goes- 
area  Philippi,  near  which  Jesus  was  deter- 
mined to  question  his  disciples  concerning  his 
greatness.  The  heavenly  answer  sprang  to 
the  lips  of  Peter,  that  Jesus  was  "the  Son  of 
the  living  God,"  the  Christ. 

When  at  the  baptism  of  Jesus  a  similar 
heavenly  statement  was  made  as  he  was  coming 
up  out  of  the  water,  he  was  immediately  driven 
into  the  wilderness  by  the  Spirit,  and  was 
tempted  by  Satan.  After  the  statement  of 
Peter  at  Csesarea  Philippi,  Jesus  was  again 
tempted;  but  this  time  by  that  disciple  who 
opposed  Jesus'  prophecy  of  the  coming  cruci- 
fixion so  dangerously  that  Jesus  rebuked  him 
and  said,  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan";  prob- 
ably thinking  of  that  former  temptation  of  the 
wilderness  following  the  baptism,  and  the  same 
doctrine  there  stated.  From  Csesarea  Phi- 
lippi Jesus  went  northward,  practically  to  the 
extreme  of  the  Holy  Land,  to  one  of  its  high- 
est mountains,  Mount  Hermon,  and  there 
96 


MOUNT  HERMON  27 

prayed  and  was  transfigured  before  his  three 
favorite  disciples,  who  now  heard  from  the 
glory  cloud  the  statement  of  Peter  made  a 
week  before.  (The  opinion  that  he  was  trans- 
figured on  Mount  Tabor  is  a  mistake.) 

On  this  Mount  Hermon,  at  the  edge  of  the 
Promised  Land,  two  great  characters  appeared 
and  talked  with  Jesus  of  the  "departure  which 
he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem."  Moses, 
on  another  mountain,  Mount  Nebo,  during  one 
of  the  sweetest  seasons  of  his  life,  had  been 
with  God,  preparing  for  his  own  departure 
from  earth.  Now  on  Mount  Hermon  he  talked 
with  the  Son  of  God  concerning  his  departure. 
Another  great  prophet  also  was  at  Mount 
Hermon :  Elij  ah,  who  at  Mount  Horeb  had 
talked  with  God;  Elijah,  who  at  Mount  Car- 
mel  had  fought  his  great  duel  with  the  prophets 
of  Baal;  Elijah,  who  took  his  departure  from 
earth  by  the  whirlwind,  with  horses  and  char- 
iot of  fire,  tempestuously,  according  to  his 
disposition,  from  the  same  mountainous  re- 
gion, over  against  Jericho,  where  Jehovah 
gently  nursed  Moses  to  sleep.  These  two  men, 
of  high  ecstatic  experiences  on  mountains,  and 
of  singular  departures  from  earth,  on  Mount 
Hermon  talked  with  the  Son  of  God  of  his 
departure  which  he  was  to  accomplish  from 
Mount  Calvary. 

And  here  they  were  talking  on  a  mountain, 


28       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ami  talking  in  glory.  And  Jesus  was 
clothed  in  glory.  Jesus  had  gone  up  there  to 
pray,  possibly  against  temptation.  Whether 
he  had  gone  beyond  the  snow  line  of  the  eleva- 
tion rising  more  than  9,000  feet  toward  the  sky 
we  have  no  way  to  know;  but  he  certainly  in 
spirit  came  near  to>  heaven:  for  they  all  heard 
a  voice,  a  heavenly  voice,  saying,  "This  is  my 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." 
There  was  another  time  when  Jesus  was  on  "an 
exceeding  high  mountain,"  but  there  he  was 
tempted ;  being  shown  the  "kingdoms  of  the 
world  and  the  glory  of  them,"  and  was  offered 
them  as  a  bribe  to  compromise  and  use  his 
powers  in  harmony  with  popularity  and 
worldliness.  And  his  only  companion  on  that 
"exceeding  high  mountain"  was  the  devil. 

But  on  Mount  Hermon  the  company  was 
more  delightful:  Peter,  James,  John,  Moses, 
Elijah,  and  the  Shekinah,  from  which  came 
the  heavenly  Voice  announcing  the  sonship  of 
Jesus.  Blessed  company !  a  company  the  most 
select  of  the  universe !  a  company  gathered 
from  heaven  and  earth,  come  to  the  Christian 
prayer-meeting!  Not  very  many  of  them,  only 
seven;  but  Jesus  was  "in  the  midst  of  them!" 

Again  consider  that  company  on  Mount 
Hermon. 

There  was  the  great  apostle,  Peter.  He  was 
a  type  of  one  class  of  Christians:  the  impul- 


MOUNT  HERMON  29 

sive,  the  emotional,  the  ready;  ready  at  one 
hour  to  fight  for  Jesus,  and  at  another  hour 
ready  to  curse  and  swear,  denying  him;  but 
yet  in  the  end  dying  for  him.  We  cannot 
spare  the  Peters  of  Christianity,  even  though 
they  may  sometimes  backslide.  For  it  was 
Peter  who  said,  "God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons ;  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him, 
and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  with 
him." 

And  there  was  the  apostle  James.  He  was 
a  type  of  another  kind  of  Christian:  the 
steady,  the  faithful,  the  burden-bearer;  the 
kind  that  can  always  be  relied  on,  the  pillar 
in  the  church.  We  need  such  men  as  James, 
to  sustain  the  work  of  the  church  when  the 
Peters  grow  cold  or  lukewarm  in  the  service. 
It  was  James,  probably,  who  said,  "Blessed  is 
the  man  that  endureth  temptation;  for  when 
he  is  tried,  he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life, 
which  the  Lord  hath  promised  to  them  that 
love  him." 

The  third  type  of  Christian  there  was  John, 
the  beloved  disciple;  the  loving,  affectionate 
Christian;  drawn  to  the  service  of  the  Master 
by  his  heart;  preserving  for  humanity  those 
tender  words  of  Jesus,  "God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life."  John  was  the  man, 


30       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  humble  fisherman  of  Galilee,  who  antici- 
pated by  many  centuries  the  vaunted  discov- 
ery of  modern  theologians  concerning  the  dis- 
position or  character  of  God,  and  said,  "God 
is  love." 

Those  three  living  men,  apostles  of  Jesus, 
were  types  of  the  Christian  world.  They  had 
not  yet  departed  from  the  earth;  and  in 
amazement  were  listening  to  the  conversation 
of  two  other  men,  who  appeared  in  glory,  and 
were  talking  with  Jesus  of  his  departure, 
"which  he  should  accomplish  from  Jerusalem." 

And  those  two  men,  Moses  and  Elijah,  were 
types  also,  as  well  as  the  three  apostles. 

Moses  was  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  world; 
Elijah  the  great  prophet. 

Moses'  departure  from  the  world  had  been 
peculiar,  and  here  on  Mount  Hermon  he  talked 
about  Jesus'  departure,  so  different  from  his 
own,  when  on  Mount  Nebo  he  was  alone  with 
God,  quietly  falling  asleep  in  Jehovah's  arms. 
I  wonder  if  Jesus  told  him  of  the  coming  cruci- 
fixion, as  he  had  told  his  disciples,  of  the 
slanders  hurled  against  him,  of  blasphemy,  or 
treason;  of  the  ribald  gibes  of  the  Jews  about 
his  "making  himself  the  Son  of  God,  and  com- 
ing down  from  the  cross  that  they  might  be- 
lieve on  him."  If  so,  Moses  must  have  recalled 
his  own  sweet  departure,  cared  for  so  tenderly 
by  Jesus'  Father,  on  quiet  Pisgah,  after  he 


MOUNT  HERMON  31 

had  looked  over  the  Promised  Land,  while 
God's  only  Son  died  on  a  cross,  in  the  midst  of 
jeering  enemies,  with  no  one  to  say  a  kind 
word  to  him  except  a  dying  thief. 

And  Moses  was  a  favored  one  of  God;  a 
favorite;  one  so  petted  by  the  Almighty  that 
he  sometimes  spoke  to  God  in  resistance  or 
opposition  to  the  revealed  divine  purposes. 

Once  God  asked  Moses  to  let  him  alone  in 
his  anger  with  the  Israelites  on  account  of 
their  sin,  announcing  to  Moses  his  plan  to  de- 
stroy them,  promising  to  raise  up  of  Moses 
himself  "a  great  nation."  Moses  was  so 
familiar  with  the  eternal  Monarch  that  he 
dared  to  resist  this  purpose,  expostulating,  and 
appealing  to  God's  mercy.  And  a  little  later 
he  cried  out,  "Yet  now,  if  thou  wilt  forgive 
their  sin,"  ....  and  in  his  grief  for 
Israel  could  not  finish  that  prayer,  but  broke 
down ;  and  as  soon  as  he  could  recover  himself 
he  cried,  "If  not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of 
thy  book  which  thou  hast  written."  Thus 
Moses,  in  the  familiar  affection  of  an  intimate 
friend,  dared  God  to  destroy  the  sinners,  pro- 
fessing desire  to  share  their  fate.  What  could 
God  do  to  the  Israelites  but  spare  them,  when 
Moses  loved  them  so?  How  this  spirit  of  love 
for  sinners  reminds  us  of  Jesus'  own  prayer 
on  Calvary,  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  And  now  this  Moses, 


32       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

this  lawgiver,  who  left  the  world  in  a  peculiar 
way,  is  talking1  on  Mount  Hermon  with  Jesus, 
of  "his  departure  which  he  should  accomplish 
at  Jerusalem." 

Peter,  James,  John,  Moses     .     .     .     four. 

There  was  another  typical  man  on  Mount 
Hermon,  Elijah  the  prophet. 

He  was  also  a  man  whom  God  loved  so  much 
that  he  bore  with  his  failings  indulgently;  like 
a  father  with  a  petted  child.  Once  he  ran 
away  from  the  land  of  Israel,  from  the  coun- 
try where  his  duty  lay,  down  to  Horeb  in  the 
wilderness.  On  the  way  he  became  tired,  and 
lay  down,  and  wished  to  die.  God's  angel 
woke  him,  showed  him  food;  and  without  re- 
proving him  for  running  away  from  Jezebel 
when  God  was  taking  care  of  him,  told  him  to 
rise  and  eat,  for  the  journey  was  too  great  for 
him.  When  he  got  down  to  Horeb,  and  con- 
sidered himself  safely  hidden  from  the  wrath 
of  the  wicked  queen,  whose  theologians  and 
doctors  of  divinity  he  had  killed,  the  voice  of 
conscience  translated  to  him  the  question  of 
God,  in  the  "still  small  voice,"  "What  doest 
thou  here,  Elijah?" 

Petulantly,  like  the  spoiled  child  that  he 
was,  he  answered,  that  he  had  done  nothing 
wrong,  that  he  had  a  right  to  be  there  in 
Horeb,  excusing  himself,  saying,  "I  have  been 
very  jealous  for  the  Lord,  God  of  hosts:  be- 


MOUNT  HERMON  33 

cause  the  children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy 
covenant,  thrown  down  thine  altars,  and  slain 
thy  prophets  with  the  sword;  and  I,  even  I 
only,  am  left;  and  they  seek  my  life,  to  take  it 
away." 

But  still  conscience  speaks  to  him,  "What 
doest  thou  here,  Elijah?"  And  he  knows  that 
"still,  small  voice"  to  be  the  question  of  God 
to  him ;  whether  he  stands  at  the  entering  in 
of  the  cave,  or  hides  in  its  thick  darkness. 
And  wherever  he  replies  to  God,  it  is  with  the 
cry  of  the  petted  child,  claiming  that  he  is 
afraid  for  his  life;  that  he  has  been  a  good 
boy,  that  he  "has  been  jealous  for  the  Lord, 
God  of  hosts,"  and  that  they  seek  his  life,  to 
take  it  away.  He  is  the  "pet"  of  Jehovah. 
How  like  a  child  he  talks  to  God ! 

But  when  God  tells  him  to  "Go,  return  on 
thy  way  to  the  wilderness  of  Damascus:  and 
when  thou  comest,  anoint  Hazael  to  be  king 
over  Syria,"  Elijah,  again  being  given  some- 
thing to  do,  makes  no  protest,  but  obeys  his 
God,  starting  on  the  dangerous  mission. 

And  when  it  came  to  the  time  of  his  depar- 
ture from  the  earth,  he  did  not  die  at  all,  he 
who  had  been  so  afraid  to  die,  but  ascended 
from  the  presence  of  Elisha  in  a  whirlwind, 
with  a  chariot  and  horses  of  fire.  God  did  not 

let  him  die  at  all ;  he  loved  him  so 

And  now  on  Mount  Hermon  this  loved  servant 


34,       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  God  is  talking  with  that  other  loved  one, 
Jesus,  of  Ms  departure. 

Peter,  James,  John,  Moses,  Elijah  .  .  . 
five.  And  of  the  five,  two  are  pets  of  the  Lord. 

And  while  those  two,  Moses  and  Elijah,  are 
talking  with  Jesus  ,  .  .  Oh!  Jesus;  that 
makes  six,  so  far,  at  this  prayer-meeting  on 
Mount  Hermon,  where  Moses  and  Elijah  talk 
with  Jesus  of  his  coming  singular  departure 
from  earth's  activities,  joys  and  sorrows. 

And  there  comes  another  one  .  .  .  God ; 
making  the  sacred  number,  seven,  at  this  first 
Christian  prayer-meeting. 

For  a  bright  cloud  overshadowed  the  six, 
and  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud,  saying,  "This  is 
my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased; 
hear  ye  him." 

And  this  voice  makes  us  know  that  there 
were  three  favorites  of  God  there,  Moses,  Eli- 
jah and  Jesus,  all  having  singular  departures 
from  earth;  to  which  each  one  was  directly 
commanded  by  God. 

And  the  impression  of  that  meeting  fell  upon 
the  hearts  of  the  disciples  like  showers  of 
divine  blessings,  to  make  them  fruitful  and 
strong  in  later  life;  so  that  Peter,  long  after- 
ward, said,  "And  this  voice  we  heard  out  of 
heaven,  when  we  were  with  him  in  the  holy 
mount"  (2  Pet.  1 :18.) 

Even  material  Mount  Hermon  was  a  locality 


MOUNT  HERMON  35 

where  physical  dews  descended  in  such  fullness 
as  to  attract  the  attention  of  travelers  in 
modern  times.  Mr.  Maundrel  says :  "With 
this  dew,  even  in  dry  weather,  their  tents  were 
as  wet  as  if  it  had  rained  the  whole  night." 
But  nineteen  centuries  ago  a  tent  was  there, 
made  of  the  glory  of  the  Father's  presence, 
from  which  the  comforting  and  refreshing 
dews  of  divine  grace  sank  into  the  hearts  of 
those  who  "entered  into  the  cloud";  Peter, 
James,  John,  Moses,  Elijah,  Jesus;  that 
blessed  company,  reminding  us  of  the  153d 
psalm : 

"Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is 
For  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity! 
It  is  like  the  precious  oil  upon  the  head, 
That  ran  down  upon  the  beard,      I 
Even  Aaron's  beard; 

That  came  down  upon  the  skirts  of  his  garments; 
Like  the  dew  of  Hermon, 

That  cometh  down  upon  the  mountains  of  Zion: 
For  there  Jehovah  commanded  the  blessing, 
Even  life  forevermore." 


LEBANON 

Let  us  leave  Mount  Hermon,  with  its  great 
height  made  sacred  by  the  transfiguration  of 
Jesus ;  let  us  cross  the  valley,  going  westward, 
still  refraining  from  entering  the  heart  of  the 
Holy  Land.  While  at  a  distance,  looking  at 
the  range  commonly  called  Mount  Lebanon, 
we  become  mildly  interested  in  it  from  its 
splendor  of  color,  notwithstanding  its  monot- 
ony of  form.  The  control  of  the  full  range, 
of  possibly  one  hundred  miles,  must  largely  be 
assigned  to  the  land  of  Tyre  and  Sidon ;  al- 
though its  glory  depends  on  the  sacred  writers 
of  the  following  books  of  the  Bible: 

Deuteronomy ;  Isaiah ; 

Joshua ;  Jeremiah ; 

Judges;  Ezekiel; 

Kings    (1st   and    2nd);     Hosea; 

2d  Chronicles;  Nahum; 

Ezra;  Habakkuk; 

Psalms ;  Zechariah. 

Canticles ; 

Singularly,  Lebanon  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  New  Testament  by  name;  although  Jesus 
had  one  of  the  most  pleasant  experiences  in 
the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  where  he  said 
to  the  Syro-Phoenician  woman,  who  had  plead 

36 


LEBANON  37 

with  him  for  only  a  crumb  dropped  "under  the 
table"  by  the  children  (the  healing  of  her 
daughter),  "O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith:  be 
it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt."  Yet  great 
crowds  came  from  Tyre  and  Sidon  into  Israel 
to  hear  his  word. 

The  word  Lebanon  signifies  white,  and  may 
have  been  given  to  the  range,  from  the  tint  of 
the  walls  of  chalk  or  limestone  rocks,  or  the 
snow  which  remains  on  the  summits  even  in  the 
summer:  for  some  peaks  rise  10,000  feet.  But 
when  we  speak  of  Lebanon  we  never  now  think 
of  white,  but  of  green;  because  of  "the  cedars 
of  Lebanon."  These  cedars  were  so  appreci- 
ated in  ancient  times  that  the  kings  of  Assyria 
when  making  expeditions  into  Palestine,  cut 
them  and  bore  them  to  their  far  distant  capi- 
tals ;  where,  even  in  modern  times,  this  wood 
transported  so  far  has  been  found. 

But  the  destruction  of  these  trees  in  Leb- 
anon through  the  ages  was  so  cruel,  that  as 
early  as  the  sixth  century  of  our  era  the 
Roman  emperor,  Justinian  the  Great,  the  cruel 
persecutor  of  truth  (in  the  name  of  truth)  and 
destroyer  of  the  church  (in  the  name  of  the 
church),  "found  it  difficult  to  secure  cedar  tim- 
ber enough  for  the  roof  of  a  single  church" 
building.  These  trees  are  now  so  few  that 
travelers  count  them,  and  cyclopedias  tell  how 
many  are  left  at  different  dates :  In  1550,  only 


38       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

28;  in  1573,  only  24;  in  1696,  only  16;  in 
1749,  only  15,  when  the  traveler  measured 
twelve  of  them,  and  found  their  circumfer- 
ences from  22  to  40  feet,  and  the  diameters  of 
some  of  the  largest  about  16  feet.  I  have  for- 
gotten where  I  read  it ;  but  one  traveler's  re- 
port is  that  but  five  of  these  giants  now  re- 
main. So  destructive  has  man  been  of  the 
wonderful  "cedars  of  Lebanon,"  among  whose 
groves  Solomon  had  80,000  men  at  work  when 
he  built  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  (However, 
one  cyclopedia  represents  these  trees  as  now 
increasing  in  number.) 

The  beauty  of  these  cedars,  before  the  rav- 
ages of  civilization  had  laid  the  mountain 
slope  comparatively  desolate,  may  be  imagined, 
or  inferred,  from  the  following  words  of  the 
Psalmist  (92:12^15): 

"The  righteous  shall  flourish  like  the  palm-tree: 
He  shall  grow  like  a  cedar  in  Lebanon, 
They  are  planted  in  the  house  of  Jehovah; 
They  shall  flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God. 
They  shall  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age; 
They  shall  be  full  of  sap  and  green: 
To  show  that  Jehovah  is  upright: 
He  is  my  rock,  and  there  is  no  unrighteousness  in 
him." 

If  you  read  1st  Kings,  5th  and  6th  chap- 
ters, you  will  see  how  the  "cedars  of  Lebanon" 


LEBANON  39 

entered  into  the  building  of  the  temple.  If  we 
were  living  in  ancient  times,  undoubtedly  we 
might  mingle  with  the  workmen  of  Hiram  and 
Solomon  in  the  mountains  of  Lebanon;  we 
might  observe  their  skill  in  cutting  the  tim- 
bers and  boards  for  the  temple;  we  might  at- 
tend them  in  transporting  this  material  to  the 
seaport;  we  might  then  take  passage  on  one 
of  the  rafts  or  floats  by  which  the  lumber  was 
transported  to  the  port  of  Japho,  west  of  Jeru- 
salem. If  so,  we  would  pass  with  idly  curious 
eye  the  celebrated  Mount  Carmel,  jutting  out 
into  the  Mediterranean;  where  Elijah,  years 
later,  sent  his  servant  to  look  out  over  the  sea, 
in  expectation  of  the  cloud  that  would  betoken 
rain  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  after  he  had 
conquered  the  prophets  of  Baal. 

But  on  our  present  excursion,  having  knowl- 
edge of  events  which  the  builders  of  the  tem- 
ple at  Jerusalem  could  not  foresee,  happening 
nearly  a  hundred  years  later,  we  will  simply 
depart  from  Lebanon  by  land,  making  our  way 
southward  to  Mount  Carmel. 


MOUNT  CARMEL 
DOGMA  IMPORTANT 

Mount  Carmel,  although  the  learned  writers 
in  cyclopedias  seem  to  labor  to  lure  us  away 
from  the  tremendous  events  related  in  the  18th 
chapter  of  First  Kings,  to  this  day,  for  us 
derives  its  chief  interest  from  those  events. 

And  here  the  reader  should  refresh  his 
memory,  by  reading  again  that  thrilling 
record. 

Some  years  before  that  time,  Elijah  the 
Tishbite  had  met  Ahab,  the  king  of  Israel,  and 
said,  "As  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel  liveth, 
before  whom  I  stand,  there  shall  not  be  dew 
nor  rain  these  years,  but  according  to  my 
word." 

The  prophet  fled  immediately,  and  hid  from 
the  king  and  the  people  of  Israel. 

Years  passed,  and  there  was  no  rain. 

Necessarily  the  matter  became  one  of  na- 
tional importance.  The  threat  of  the  prophet, 
and  his  prediction  that  rain  would  not  come 
except  according  to  his  word,  made  the  king 
and  the  statesmen  desire  to  meet  him.  The 
drouth  and  Elijah  became  subjects  of  domi- 
nating interest. 

But  the  years  passed,  there  was  no  rain, 
40 


MOUNT  CAKMEL  41 

famine  came,  and  in  vain  did  the  king  seek  for 
the  prophet.  Ambassadors  were  sent  to  for- 
eign lands,  and  kings  were  questioned.  The 
famine  became  more  and  more  grievous,  but 
Elijah  could  not  be  found.  God  was  taking 
care  of  him,  commanding  ravens  to  feed  him 
when  in  the  wilderness  for  a  time,  and  a  poor 
widow  woman  in  Zarephath  afterward. 

That  famine  was  brought  on  Israel  because 
the  people  had  forsaken  Jehovah,  their  true 
God,  and  joined  in  the  idolatrous  worship  of 
the  Baalim. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  enter  into  a 
description  of  the  theology  of  the  worshipers 
of  the  Baalim,  or  the  various  aspects,  or  mani- 
festations, under  which  Baal  was  adored.  But 
his  service  was  popular,  harmonizing  with 
carnal  appetites.  The  prophets  who  wor- 
shiped him  had  received  their  instruction  from 
the  filthy  nations  of  heathendom;  and,  having 
respect  for  the  instruction  they  had  received 
in  the  schools  of  Baal,  and  from  their  Gentile 
ancestors,  were  undoubtedly  sincere. 

If,  even  in  our  time,  we  go  to  the  wrong 
source  of  knowledge,  turning  from  the  law  of 
Moses  and  the  word  of  Jesus  to  "the  doctrines 
and  commandments  of  men"  for  instruction 
concerning  the  true  God,  we  are  in  danger  of 
religious  disaster.  God  has  made  the  firsit 
commandment  teach  his  own  unity,  because  it 


4£       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

is  the  commandment  most  important  of  all. 
Its  violation  leads  to  all  other  sins;  poisoning 
the  intellect,  and  making  the  victim  unable  to 
reason  correctly.  Its  violation,  vitiates  \thie 
daily  life ;  making  the  sources  of  moral  author- 
ity uncertain  or  vile.  Its  violation  debases 
the  spiritual  nature:  for  God  is  spirit;  and 
they  who  worship  him  must  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  truth.  In  no  other  way  can  he  be 
truli/  worshiped,  or  truly  be  worshiped. 

It  is  astonishing  that  Christians  should 
neglect  this  commandment,  both  in  theory  and 
practice.  But  they  do.  And  in  this  age,  when 
"covetousness  is  idolatry,"  Alexander  Mc- 
Laren D.  D.,  in  the  Sunday  School  Times 
of  May  28th,  1887,  used  the  following  lan- 
guage: 

"The  first  commandment  bears  in  its  negative 
form  marks  of  the  condition  of  the  world  when  it 
was  spoken,  and  of  the  strong  temptation  to  poly- 
theism which  the  Israelites  were  to  resist.  Every- 
where but  in  that  corner  among  the  wild  rocks  of 
Sinai,  men  believed  in  gods  many.  Egypt 
swarmed!  with  them.  .  .  .  All  these  many  gods 
were  on  amicable  terms  with  one  another,  and 
ready  to  welcome  new  comers.  But  the  monothe- 
ism which  was  here  laid  at  the  very  foundation  of 
Israel's  national  life,  parted  them  by  a  deep  gulf 
from  all  the  world,  and  determined  their  history. 

"The  prohibition  has  little  force  for  us,"  etc. 


MOUNT  CARMEL  43 

Oh!  that  there  could  have  been  an  Elijah 
looking  over  McLaren's  shoulder,  when  he 
wrote,  "The  prohibition  has  little  force  for 
us,"  to  rebuke  him,  notwithstanding  all  the 
fine  words  which  followed  endorsing  the  first 
commandment.  If  Elijah  had  been  there,  he 
might  have  predicted  to  McLaren  that  there 
would  be  a  famine  in  Christendom  of  the  Word 
and  Spirit  of  God  for  a  quarter  or  half  a  cen- 
tury; that  the  pastors  of  churches  would  be 
unable  to  reach  the  masses  of  the  working  peo- 
ple in  the  cities ;  that  so-called  "revivals" 
would  become  a  product  of  human  machinery ; 
that  instead  of  the  Spirit's  working  as  the 
breathing  of  the  wind,  so  that  we  would  not 
know  "whence  it  came  and  whither  it  went," 
we  would  know  all  about  it;  that  the  profes- 
sional "evangelists"  would  tell  us  whence  they 
would  come,  how  long  they  would  stay,  and 
whither  they  would  go ;  that  instead  of  leaping 
on  the  altar,  crying  unto  Baal,  and  cutting 
themselves  with  knives,  they  would  cut  out  all 
church  services  but  their  own,  make  the  rafters 
tremble  with  grand  music,  and  have  the  con- 
gregations bow  their  heads  and  shut  their  eyes 
while  sinners  bravely  raised  their  hands  to  con- 
fess their  sins  against  God,,  or  secretly  signed 
the  cards  admitting  that  they  had  been  serving 
Ashtaroth. 

In  all  ages  and  in  all  lands,  Jehovah  is  neg- 


44       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

lected,  except  by  those  who  walk  with  him  and 
keep  his  commandments. 

In  the  time  of  Israel's  idolatry,  God  brought 
the  famine  on  the  land  at  the  word  of  his 
prophet.  At  last  God  commanded  Elijah  to 
show  himself  to  Ahab,  to  tell  him  that  he  would 
bring  rain  on  the  earth.  The  meeting  of  the 
king  and  prophet  was  stormy;  but  the  king 
obeyed  the  prophet,  who  said  to  him, 

"Now  therefore  send,  and  gather  to  me  all  Is- 
rael unto  Mount  Carmel,  and  the  prophets  of 
Baal  four  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  prophets  of 
the  Asherah  four  hundred,  that  eat  at  Jezebel's 
table. 

"So  Ahab  sent  unto  all  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  gathered  the  prophets  together  unto  Mount 
Carmel.  And  Elijah  came  near  unto  all  the  peo- 
ple, and  said,  How  long  go  ye  limping  between  the 
two  sides?  If  Jehovah  be  God,  follow  him;  but 
if  Baal,  then  follow  him. 

"And  the  people  answered  him  not  a  word"  (1 
Kings  18:19-21). 

Then  came  that  duel,  lasting  for  hours,  on 
Mount  Carmel.  The  king,  Ahab,  had  obeyed 
the  orders  of  Elijah,  to  gather  the  false  proph- 
ets and  the  people  together  there,  near  the 
coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  about  due  west 
from  the  sea  of  Galilee. . 

Mount  Carmel  consists  of  a  range  of  hills, 
perhaps  1,500  or  1,600  feet  high,  adorned 


MOUNT  CARMEL  45 

with  verdure,  of  fragrant  wild  flowers  of  many 
kinds,  pines,  oaks,  olive  and  laurel  trees,  with 
brooks  of  clear  water  emptying  into  the 
Kishon.  The  outlook  from  the  graceful  and 
verdant  summit  is  said  to  be  beautiful,  includ- 
ing the  sea  and  its  fertile  shores,  the  pastures 
and  fruit  trees  of  the  valleys,  and  the  distant 
blue  of  the  mountains  of  Lebanon. 

On  what  elevation  of  these  hills,  which  jut 
out  into  the  Mediterranean  like  a  promontory, 
the  people  gathered  at  the  word  of  Elijah,  is 
not  known. 

But  there  came  that  duel,  lasting  from  the 
forenoon  till  the  evening,  in  the  beginning  of 
which,  when  Elijah  had  called  on  the  people 
to  choose  between  Jehovah  and  Baal,  "the  peo- 
ple answered  him  not  a  word." 

It  was  the  prophet  against  the  king;  one 
theologian  against  eight  hundred  and  fifty; 
one  man  against  all  Israel;  one  agitator 
against  a  government;  duty  against  popular- 
ity. 

But  it  was  truth  against  error;  it  was  right- 
eousness against  sin ;  it  was  Jehovah  against 
Baal.  And  God  took  care  of  Elijah. 

There  are  times  when  God  visibly  and  very 
plainly  takes  care  of  his  children.  Why  will 
men  be  so  narrow  that  they  cannot  believe  in 
miracle?  It  is  not  breadth  of  mind  that 
sophists  use  to  keep  the  infinite  Chemist  out 


46       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  his  laboratory,  the  infinite  Engineer  away 
from  his  machine,  the  infinite  Father  from 
pleasing  his  faithful  child.  It  is  narrowness 
of  intellect  that  denies  the  possibility  of  mir- 
acles. It  is  also  narrowness  of  heart:  for  it 
rejects  the  testimony  of  fellow  men,  unless  the 
sophist  knows  the  event  related  (or  something 
like  it)  independently  of  the  witness.  But  he 
is  unwise,  whose  only  lamp  is  that  of  experi- 
ence. 

Elijah  prayed  to  God,  and  fire  fell  from 
heaven  and  consumed  the  sacrifice  that  lay  on 
the  altar  that  Elijah  had  built;  the  fire  burnt 
up  the  stones  of  the  altar;  the  fire  licked  up 
the  water  that  was  in  the  trench  about  the 
altar.  The  miracle  was  evident,  and  the  peo- 
ple accepted  Jehovah  as  the  true  God. 

And  Elijah  prayed  on  Mount  Carmel.  He 
prayed  for  rain.  The  drouth  had  brought 
the  famine,  and  the  people  were  suffering. 
Elij  ah  prayed,  with  his  face  toward  the  earth ; 
and  would  not  look  out  toward  the  west,  from 
where  the  rain  would  come.  He  sent  his  serv- 
ant to  look ;  but  the  servant  reported  no  sign 
of  rain.  But  Elijah  sent  him  back  seven 
times.  Ah !  this  favored  child  of  God,  this  pet, 
will  not  let  Jehovah  alone.  He  keeps  on  ask- 
ing, and  asking,  and  asking,  and  asking,  and 
asking,  and  asking,  and  asking  for  rain. 

At  last  the  servant  reports  the  cloud  of  the 


MOUNT  CARMEL  47 

size  of  a  man's  hand;  and  Elijah  knows  that 
God  will  answer  this  prayer  also ;  and  he  hur- 
ries to  A!iab,  to  tell  the  king  to  hasten  to  his 
capital.  And  they  leave  Mount  Carmel,  racing 
furiously  to  escape  from  the  drenching  rain. 
But  from  this  time  forward,  Mount  Carmel 
will  be  remembered  with  Mount  Nebo,  with 
Mount  Horeb,  with  Mount  Hermon  and  other 
heights,  where  the  earth  came  near  to  the  skies, 
because  God's  petted  children  there  prayed  to 
him;  they  who  "feared  God  and  worked  right- 


THE  MOUNT  OF  BEATITUDES. 

Although  willing  to  tarry  among  the  trees 
and  flowers  of  Mount  Carmel,  made  sacred  by 
the  faith  of  Elijah,  we  realize  that  we  have  not 
yet  entered  the  heart  of  the  Promised  Land, 
where  there  are  two  or  three  mountains  of 
deep  interest  to  the  follower  of  the  Savior ;  and 
we  turn  our  faces  eastward,  bearing  slightly  to 
the  north;  and  off  to  the  northwest  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  only  a  few  miles  west  of  Capernaum, 
there  is  a  mountain  that  meets  the  conditions 
required  for  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes,  where 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  delivered  by 
Jesus. 

Elijah  was  not  the  only  servant  of  God  who 
had  felt  the  hatred  of  sinners. 

The  animosity  of  Jesus'  enemies  had  so 
grown  that  he  needed  his  Father's  help,  and 
he  went  out  into  a  mountain,  where  he  con- 
tinued all  night  in  prayer.  In  the  morning  he 
called  to  him  his  disciples,  chose  from  them 
twelve,  and  then  descended  to  a  lower  plateau 
on  the  mountain,  where  travelers  tell  us  there 
is  a  level  space  that  might  accommodate  about 
2,000  people ;  and  there  he  delivered  that  series 
of  "blessings,"  commonly  called  the  beatitudes. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  of  which  they 
48 


THE  MOUNT  OF  BEATITUDES     49 

are  the  opening  sentences,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  productions  preserved  by  human 
beings.  Merely  from  the  intellectual  point  of 
view,  it  makes  that  mountain  shine  with  eter- 
nal splendor;  and  men  have  been  for  centuries 
picturing  the  disciples  and  the  multitudes 
crowding  around  Jesus  and  breathlessly  listen- 
ing to  utterances  that  have  nothing  like  them, 
even  in  feeble  degree,  since  the  old  Hebrew 
prophets  closed  their  lips,  except  the  stirring 
words  of  John  the  Baptist.  Any  of  the  follow- 
ing points  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  would 
have  made  any  literary  writer  or  platform  ora- 
tor, of  any  age,  immortal : — the  beatitudes ; 
the  parable  of  the  two  builders  (on  rock  and 
sand)  ;  the  Golden  Rule ;  the  doctrine  of  moral 
perfection;  the  defense  of  the  "law  and  the 
prophets";  the  "Lord's  Prayer";  "love  your 
enemies" ;  "swear  not  at  all" ;  give  and  pray 
secretly;  "lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in 
heaven";  "consider  the  lilies";  "judge  not"; 
"by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them" ;  sonship 
to  the  Most  High;  narrow  is  the  gate  that 
leadeth  unto  life;  "ask,  and  it  shall  be  given 
you" ;  the  burden  of  riches ;  the  Fatherhood 
of  God. 

Obedience  to  this  one  sermon  would  make  a 
man  prayerful,  loving,  spiritual,  and  "perfect, 
even  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  It 
reveals  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  our  kin- 


50       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ship  to  heaven.  The  disciple  that  obeys  it  has 
a  flight  higher  than  that  of  the  "birds  of  the 
heaven,"  and  a  raiment  more  golden  than  that 
of  the  "lilies  of  the  field."  He  learns  that 
"sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof"; 
and  that  the  heavenly  Father  knows  what  man 
needs. 

The  Mount  of  Beatitudes  may  not  be  snow- 
capped ;  but  it  is  in  one  sense  so  high  that  only 
the  perfect  man  can  climb  it.  It  is  so  high 
that  he  who  has  mastered  the  principles  of  its 
great  sermon  is  so  near  to  the  heavenly  Father 
that  he  can  feel  the  beating  of  the  dlivine 
heart. 

The  Mount  of  Beatitudes  is  so  high  that  he 
who  reaches  its  top  has  risen  out  of  the  boggy 
swamps  or  lonely  wastes  of  selfishness  forever; 
he  has  passed  out  of  the  stupefying  and  poi- 
sonous carbonic  acid  gas  of  infidelity ;  he  has 
escaped  from  the  metaphysical  fogs ;  and  with 
clear  vision  and  a  "pure  heart  he  sees  G-od." 

On  Mount  Sinai  only  Moses  might  see  God. 
On  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes  any  one  may  look. 

Mount  Sinai  spells  law.  Mount  of  Beati- 
tudes spells  love. 

The  law  of  Mount  Sinai  bristles  with  nega- 
tives, was  stony ;  but  would,  if  obeyed,  make  the 
earth  a  Paradise.  The  law  of  the  Mount  of 
Beatitudes  is  mellow  with  the  music  of  af- 
firmatives, is  alive  with  heavenly  pulsations, 


THE  MOUNT  OF  BEATITUDES     51 

and  would  take  earth's  paradise,  prepared  by 
stony  law,  and  transform  it  into  a  spiritual 
heaven. 

Mount  Sinai,  the  mount  of  Moses'  law,  was 
near  the  Red  Sea,  the  dividing  gulf  from 
heathen  darkness  and  sinful  oppression ;  and 
in  a  wilderness ;  and  only  glared  to  the  Israel- 
ites for  a  short  time  with  deterring  lightnings. 
But  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes  was  in  the 
Promised  Land,  and  shines  to  this  day  with 
the  winning  smiles  of  Jesus'  love. 


MOUNT  GILBOA 

We  leave  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes  and  go 
southward,  leaving  the  Sea  of  Galilee  on  our 
left.  Then  we  may  pass  Mount  Gilboa,  made 
famous  by  the  death  of  Saul,  the  king  of  Israel. 
It  is  this  event  which  prompted  the  poet  Byron 
to  write  the  "Song  of  Saul  before  His  Last 
Battle,"  in  such  a  way  that  the  poet's  genius 
casts  a  kind  of  glamour  over  the  character  of 
this  king,  who,  to  the  end  of  his  long  reign, 
was  like  an  artless  boy,  either  self-willed  and 
stubborn,  or  superstitious  and  chivalrous. 
Byron  makes  him  speak  as  follows  to  his  troops 
before  his  last  battle  with  the  enemies  of  his 
country,  notwithstanding  his  flight  in  Mount 
Gilboa,  and  his  suicide  there : — 

"Warriors    and    chiefs !    should    the    shaft    or   the 

sword 

Pierce  me  in  leading  the  hosts  of  the  Lord, 
Heed  not  the  corse,  tho'  a  king's  in  your  path : 
Bury  your  steel  in  the  bosoms  of  Gath! 

"Thou  who  art  bearing  my  buckler  and  bow, 
Should  the  soldiers  of  Saul  look  away  from  the 

foe, 

Stretch  me  that  moment  in  blood  at  thy  feet ! 
Mine  be  the  doom  which  they  dared  not  to  meet. 
52 


MOUNT  GILBOA  53 

"Farewell  to  others,  but  never  we  part, 
Heir  to  my  royalty,  son  of  my  heart ! 
Bright  is  the  diadem,  boundless  the  sway, 
Or  kingly  the  death,  which  awaits  us  to-day." 

But  the  romantic  touch  of  Lord  Byron  could 
not  make  Mount  Gilboa  even  seem  to  be  the 
scene  of  events  that  turned  the  destinies  of 
mankind,  like  other  mountains  mentioned  in  the 
Bible.  And  we  tarry  only  long  enough  to 
find  in  our  Bible  the  curse  uttered  by  David 
against  Mount  Gilboa,  because  of  the  death 
there  of  Saul  and  Jonathan: — 

"Thy  glory,  O  Israel,  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places ! 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen! 
Tell  it  not  in  Gath, 

Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ashkelon; 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice, 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph. 
Ye  mountains  of  Gilboa, 
Let  there  be  no  dew  or  rain  upon  you,  neither 

fields  of  offerings: 
For  there!  the  shield  of  the  mighty  was  vilely  cast 

away, 
The  shield  of  Saul,  as  of  one  not  anointed  with 

oil." 


MOUNT  MORIAH 

We  resume  our  journey  to  the  southward, 
bearing1  a  little  to  the  west,  that  we  may  pass 
Mount  Ebal  and  Mount  Gerizim,  celebrated  as 
the  mountains  over  against  each  other  where 
the  Hebrews  assembled.  Almost  between  them, 
in  the  valley,  was  probably  the  well  where  Jesus 
met  the  Woman  of  Samaria.  When  she  talked 
about  worshiping  God  in  that  mountain  (Ebal 
or  Gerizim,)  Jesus  insisted  that  locality  was 
not  the  chief  element  in  worship,  but  "truth 
and  spirit"  ;  for  God  is  spirit. 

But  let  us  go  down  (or  up,  as  the  ancients 
would  say)  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  a  city  of 
mountains.  The  Psalmist  l&5:l-£  said:  — 


"They  that  trust  in  Jehovah 
Are  as  Mount  Zion,  which  cannot  be  moved,  but 

abideth  forever. 

As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem, 
So  Jehovah  is  round  about  his  people 
From  this  time  forth  and  forevermore." 

There  we  find  Mount  Moriah,  Mount  Zion, 
Mount  Calvary  and  the  Mount  of  Olives.  But 
let  us  imagine  and  meditate  concerning  Mount 
Moriah. 

The  name  is  said  to  signify  that  Jehovah 
54 


MOUNT  MORIAH  55 

provides,  or  sees,  or  chooses.  And  we  fancy 
that  the  name  may  have  been  given,  because  on 
that  mountain  God  provided  the  victim  for  the 
faithful  Abraham,  whom  he  had  commanded  to 
offer  his  son  as  a  sacrifice. 

Destructive  critics  have  taught  that  Abra- 
ham was  mistaken  in  thinking  that  God  had 
given  this  commandment;  that  Abraham  was 
rather  infected  by  the  contagion  of  the  sur- 
rounding idolatrous  influences ;  and  they  have 
thus  done  away  with  revelation  in  what  they 
call  "the  story."  But  we  do  not  follow  them. 
Let  those  whose  lives  are  comparatively  barren 
in  spiritual  effectiveness  be  modest  in  contra- 
dicting statements  of  spiritual  giants  concern- 
ing experiences  and  events  recorded  in  honest 
records  preserved  by  a  race  of  mankind  that 
has  produced  not  merely  one  religious  leader, 
but  a  procession  of  mighty  prophets  through 
the  ages.  They  have  done  things,  and  known 
things,  and  felt  things,  that  critics  can  no  more 
understand  than  common  mosquitos  can  com- 
prehend of  the  working  of  a  steam  engine. 

On  Mount  Moriah  Abraham,  in  obedience  to 
God,  was  about  to  sacrifice  his  son,  when  the 
angel's  call  stayed  his  hand,  and  another  vic- 
tim was  provided.  How  often  God  provides 
for  the  needy!  It  could  not  have  been  far 
from  Mount  Moriah  that  God  provided  the 
"Lamb  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 


56       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

But  on  that  spot  where  Abraham's  hand  was 
stayed,  the  Jews  think,  stood  the  altar  of 
burnt  offerings  of  their  temple  in  later  years. 
There  was  the  temple  of  Solomon.  There  was 
the  threshing  floor  where  David  offered  the 
sacrifice,  after  he  had  sinned  in  numbering  the 
children  of  Israel ;  refusing  to  take  the  place 
as  a  gift  from  the  owner.  It  is  supposed  that 
there  stood  the  temple  of  Herod,  that  caused 
the  Jews  to  boast  to  Jesus,  "forty  and  six  years 
was  this  temple  in  building."  The  historical 
associations  that  may  be  connected  with  Mount 
Moriah,  if  we  have  correctly  identified  the 
place,  are  so  many  that  they  forbid  us  to 
gratify  our  imagination;  and  all  that  we  do  is 
to  recollect  that  here  trod  the  feet  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  David,  Solomon,  and  generations  and 
generations  of  worshiping  Hebrews,  until 
finally  Jesus  came  and  showed  the  world  that 
God  was  not  confined  to  a  Holy  of  Holies  in  a 
tabernacle  or  temple,  but  might  be  found  in 
the  hearts  of  his  children  anywhere.  And 
when  we  think  of  Jesus  as  treading  and  teach- 
ing on  Mount  Moriah,  we  look  over  to  the  east- 
ward, across  the  Brook  Kedron,  and  see  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  from  which  Jesus  ascended  to 
heaven,  from  the  sight  of  his  wondering  dis- 
ciples. And  we  will  go  there  before  we  go  to 
Calvary. 

But  as  we  go,  thinking  of  Mount  Moriah,  the 


MOUNT  MORIAH  57 

Mount  of  Olives,  and  of  Calvary,  and  how  the 
nations  of  the  earth  have  sought  the  law  from 
Jerusalem,  we  cannot  avoid  recalling  the  words 
of  the  prophet  (Micah  4:l-&)  about  it,  which 
are  yet  only  in  part  fulfilled,  though  they  are 
made  the  foundation  of  many  Christian  an- 
thems sung  by  choirs  in  our  modern  sabbath 
services  to  this  day: — 

"But  in  the  latter  days  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
that  the  mountain  of  Jehovah's  house  shall  be  es- 
tablished on  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  it  shall 
be  exalted  above  the  hills;  and  peoples  shall  flow 
unto  it.  And  many  nations  shall  go  and  say, 
Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  Je- 
hovah, and  to  the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob;  and 
he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in 
his  paths.  For  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law, 
and  the  word  of  Jehovah  from  Jerusalem;  and  he 
will  judge  between  many  peoples,  and  will  decide 
concerning  strong  nations  afar  off:  and  they  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  plowshares,  and  their  spears 
into  pruninghooks ;  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more.'* 


OLIVET 

JESUS'  GREATEST  TEMPTATION 

So  little  does  the  Holy  Land  now  look  like 
the  closely  populated  country  of  our  Savior's 
time,  that  the  traveler  of  our  own  generation 
must  lose  some  of  the  realism  of  his  imagina- 
tion based  on  the  impressions  concerning  it  de- 
rived from  the  Bible.  However,  the  accounts 
of  modern  travelers  may  help  us  who  do  not 
visit  the  land,  in  some  degree.  How  different 
Jerusalem  must  seem  now  from  that  time  when 
it  was  so  beautiful ;  before  it  rebelled,  and  while 
a  Roman  procurator  was  executive ;  when  Jesus 
visited  the  temple  that  had  been  forty  and  six 
years  in  building;  and  where  he  predicted 
Jerusalem's  overthrow  during  that  generation, 
so  that  the  disciples,  remembering  his  direc- 
tions (Luke  21:21),  escaped  from  the  Roman 
maneuvering  armies  to  the  mountains,  while 
the  thousands  of  fanatical  Jews  were  cooped 
up  in  the  city,  and  during  the  siege  were  killed, 
starved,  captured,  and  crucified! 

In  the  time  of  Jesus,  if  one  were  to  go  from 

Mount  Moriah  down  across  the  Brook  Kedron 

toward  the  east,  he  would  ascend  the  Mount 

of  Olives,  on  whose  eastern  slope  at  Bethany 

58 


OLIVET  59 

the  Savior  was  a  welcome  guest  on  the  nights 
of  the  last  week  of  his  life. 

From  the  summit  of  the  M;ount  of  Olives  the 
Dead  Sea  may  be  seen,  even  the  water  of  it, 
though  distant  nearly  a  day's  brisk  riding.  It 
is  at  a  level  of  more  than  3,900  feet  below: 
for  the  Dead  Sea  lies  lower  than  the  ocean. 
Looking  to  the  westward  from  the  mountain, 
which  is  a  low  ridge  of  hills,  the  whole  of 
Jerusalem  may  be  seen.  We  may  easily  under- 
stand how  Jesus,  on  looking  at  the  city  of  the 
Great  King,  calling  to  mind  the  stubborn  un- 
belief of  the  ecclesiastics  there  and  the  coming 
desolation  of  the  city,  would  be  touched  with 
tender  pity.  He  wept  over  the  coming  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  and  the  self-sufficient 
egotism  of  its  cultivated  citizens.  In  their 
times  they  were  "modern"  and  "progressive," 
interpreting  away  the  law  of  God,  and  making 
it  void  by  their  traditions.  The  Sadducees 
even  contradicted  the  prophets,  and  denied  the 
possibility  of  a  resurrection.  They  were  so 
learned.  But  Jesus  knew  more  about  human 
nature  than  they  did,  and  could  see  farther 
into  the  future  than  they  could;  and  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives  he  wept  over  Jerusalem. 

But  it  was  fitting  that  the  king,  whose  com- 
ing the  prophets  had  foretold,  should  "sud- 
denly come  to  his  temple,"  though  the  prophet 
(Mai.  3:1)  had  said  a  "messenger"  would  pre- 


60       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

cede  and  "prepare  the  way  before  him";  and 
that  in  some  way  he  should  have  a  triumphal 
entry  into  his  earthly  capital.  And  this  event 
is  described  by  the  Dean  of  Westminster  as 
follows : — 

"Two  vast  streams  of  people  met  that  day. 
The  one  poured  out  from  the  city  (John  12:12- 
13);  and  as  they  came  through  the  gardens  whose 
clusters  of  palm  trees  rose  on  the  southeastern 
corner  of  Olivet,  they  cut  down  thd  long  branches, 
as  was  their  wont  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  and 
moved  upward  toward  Bethany1  with  shouts  of  wel- 
come. From  Bethany  streamed  forth,  crowds 
who  had  assembled  there  on  the  previous  night, 
and  who  came  testifying  to  the  great  event 
at  the  sepulchre  of  Lazarus.  In  going  toward 
Jerusalem  the  road  soon  loses  sight  of  Bethany. 
It  is  now  a  rough  but  still  broad  and  well-defined 
mountain  track,  winding  over  loose  rocks  and 
stones,  and  here  and  there  deeply  excavated;  a 
steep  declivity  below  on  the  left,  the  sloping  shoul- 
der of  Olivet  above  it  on  the  right;  fig-trees  be- 
low and  above,  growing  out  of  the  rocky  soil. 
Along  the  road  the  multitudes  threw  down  the 
branches  which  they  cut  as  they  went  along,  or 
spread  out  a  rude  matting  formed  of  the  palm 
branches  they  had  already  cut  as  they  came  out. 
The  larger  portion  .  .  .  those  perhaps  who 
had  escorted  him  from  Bethany  .  .  .  un- 
wrapped their  loose  cloaks  from  their  shoulders 
and  stretched  them  along  the  rough  path  to  form 


OLIVET  61 

a  momentary  carpet  as  he  approached  (Mat. 
21:8).  The  two  streams  met.  Part  of  the  vast 
mass,  turning  round,  preceded;  the  other  half  fol- 
lowed (Mar.  11:9).  Gradually  the  long  proces- 
sion swept  round  the  little  valley  that  furrows  the 
hill,  and  over  the  ridge  on  its  western  side,  where 
first  begins  the  descent  of  the  Mount  of  Olives 
toward  Jerusalem.  At  this  point  the  first  view  is 
caught  of  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  city. 
The  temple  and  the  more  northern  portions  are 
hid  by  the  slopes  of  Olivet  on  the  right;  what  is 
seen  is  only  Mount  Zion,  now  for  the  most  part 
a  rough  field,  crowned  with  the  mosque  of  David 
and  the  angle  of  the  western  walls,  but  then  cov- 
ered with  houses  to  its  base,  surmounted  by  the  cas- 
tle of  Herod,  on  the  supposed  site  of  the  palace 
of  David,  from  which  that  portion  of  Jerusalem, 
emphatically  the  city  of  David,  derived  its  name. 
It  was  at  this  precise  point,  'as  he  drew  near,  at 
the  descent  of  the  Mount  of  Olives'  (may  it  not 
have  been  from  the  sight  thus  opening  upon 
them?)  that  the  shout  of  triumph  burst  forth  from 
the  multitude,  'Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David. 
Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord'  (Mat.  21:9).  There  was  a  pause  as  the 
shout  ran  through  the  defile;  and  as  the  Pharisees 
who  stood  by  in  the  crowd  complained,  he  pointed 
to  the  stones,  which,  strewn  beneath  their  feet, 
would  immediately  cry  out  if  'these  were  to  hold 
their  peace.'  Again  the  procession  advanced. 
The  road  descended  a  slight  declivity,  and  the 
glimpse  of  the  city  was  again  withdrawn  behind 
the  intervening  ridge  of  Olivet.  A  few  moments 


62       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  the  path  mounts  again;  it  climbs  a  rugged  as- 
cent, it  reaches  a  ledge  of  smooth  rock,  and  in 
an  instant  the  whole  city  bursts  into  view.  As 
now  the  dome  of  the  Mosque  El  Aksa  rises  like  a 
ghost  from  the  earth  before  the  traveler  who 
stands  on  the  ledge,  so  then  must  have  risen  the 
temple  tower;  as  now  the  vast  enclosure  of  the 
Mussulman  sanctuary,  so  then  must  have  spread 
the  temple  court:  as  now  the  gray  town  on  its 
broken  hills,  so  then  the  magnificent  city  with  its 
background  .  .  .  long  since  vanished  away 
.  .  .  of  gardens  and  suburbs  on  the  western 
plateau  behind.  Immediately  below  was  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Kedron,  here  seen  at  its  greatest  depths 
as  it  joins  the  valley  Hinnom,  and  thus  giving 
full  effect  to  the  great  peculiarity  of  Jerusalem, 
seen  only  on  its  eastern  side  ...  its  situation 
as  of  a  city  rising  out  of  a  deep  abyss.  It  is 
hardly  possible  to  doubt  that  this  rise  and  turn 
of  the  road  .  .  .  this  rocky  ledge  .  . 
was  the  exact  point  where  the  multitude  paused 
again,  and  'he,  when  he  beheld  the  city,  wept 
over  it.'  " 

O  mount  of  sadness,  thou  mount  of  Olives ! 

It  would  be  vain  to  trust  the  traditions 
brought  down  to  our  day  by  ignorant  monks 
concerning  the  locality  of  the  grave  of  Laz- 
arus. But  the  Bible  history  makes  us  know 
nearly  the  location  of  Bethany ;  and  we  may 
well  reason  that  somewhere  about  this  mountain 
was  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  where  "Jesus  wept." 


OLIVET  63 

But  the  resurrection  triumph,  to  follow  so 
soon,  did  not  lift  the  burden  off  Jesus'  heart: 
for  when  they  made  a  feast  for  him  in  the  rich 
man's  house,  where  Lazarus  was  a  guest  of 
honor,  where  "Martha  served,"  and  Mary 
brought  an  alabaster  box  of  precious  spike- 
nard, and  anointed  Jesus  and  broke  the  box,  he 
affectionately  and  sadly  said  that  she  had  come 
to  anoint  him  beforehand  for  his  burying  ("to 
prepare  me  for  burial").  Thus  he  spoke  on 
this  Mount  of  Olives,  on  whose  western  side  he 
"wept"  over  Jerusalem. 

Our  affections  are  near  our  sorrows,  and  our 
sorrows  are  near  our  affections.  On  the  lower 
slope  of  this  Mount  of  Olives,  on  the  Jerusalem 
side,  was  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  where,  a 
few  nights  later,  Jesus  began  to  be  "exceedingly 
sorrowful,  even  unto  death" ;  and  he  was 
"greatly  amazed,  and  sore  troubled";  and  he 
"was  in  agony  .  .  .  and  his  sweat  became, 
as  it  were,  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down 
upon  the  ground."  And  there  he  asked  his 
disciples  to  watch  with  him;  but  they  fell 
asleep.  He  awoke  them,;  but  they  fell  asleep 
again. 

Of  course,  no  one  would  contend  that  we  are 
qualified  adequately  to  appreciate  the  suffer- 
ings of  Jesus  in  Gethsemane.  But  there  is 
more  than  that  to  be  said:  it  is  likely  that  few 
of  us  can  even  understand  them.  As  the  toad- 


64       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

stool  cannot  comprehend  the  beauty  of  the 
rose,  or  the  lion's  whelp  the  patriotism  of  Wil- 
liam Tell,  so  we  sinners  cannot  understand  the 
horror  of  the  Son  of  God  at  being  classified  as 
a  "blasphemer"  by  the  judgment  of  his  Father's 
chosen  people,  and  the  verdict,  "worthy  of 
death,"  which  he  received  from  their  high  priest 
and  regular  officials.  Jesus  mentally  foresaw 
it  all,  and  in  Gethsemane  he  began  to  realize  its 
close  approach. 

In  Jersualem  he  had  a  few  hours  before  given 
the  bread  and  the  cup  to  the  disciples.  And 
one  of  them  was  a  traitor.  Another  was  to 
deny  him.  All  were  to  forsake  him  and  fly. 
He  was  to  be  "despised  and  rejected  of  men." 
And  that  he  was  to  "taste  death  for  every 
man,"  so  mastered  his  feelings  that  his  disciples 
partook  of  his  depression,  and  he  felt  com- 
pelled soon  to  say  to  them,  "Let  not  your  heart 
be  troubled,  ye  believe  in  God ;  believe  also  in 
me."  Possibly  there  were  signs  even  then  visi- 
ble to  his  keen  perception,  that  the  disciples 
were  some  of  them  hesitating  in  their  allegiance, 
in  harmony  with  his  own  prediction  about  them, 
that  they  should  all  be  "offended  in  him  that 
night." 

Was  it  to  strengthen  their  waning  allegiance 
that  he  advised  the  buying  of  a  "sword"  (Luke 
22:  36),  and  they  replied,  "Lord,  behold,  here 
are  two  swords?"  You  remember  that  he  said, 


OLIVET  65 

"It  is  enough."  Undoubtedly,  if  Jesus  had  al- 
lowed his  disciples  to  fight  for  him  at  Gethse- 
mane,  "two  swords"  would  have  been  enough. 
For  when  the  Jewish  officers  came  to  arrest  him 
at  the  entrance  to  Gethsemane,  and  he  asked 
them,  "Whom  seek  ye?"  his  very  look  and  voice 
as  he  informed  them  that  he  was  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, and  demanded  that  they  let  the  disciples 
"go  their  way,"  made  his  enemies  shrink  back- 
ward and  fall  to  the  ground.  .  .  .  There 
can  be  no  question  that  Jesus  as  a  military  com- 
mander would  have  led  armies  to  splendid  vic- 
tories. 

Then  was  there  a  lingering  hope  in  the  heart 
of  Jesus  that  his  Father  would  allow  him  to 
make  the  fight  for  heaven  and  righteousness 
by  those  agencies  that  would  inspire  his  dis- 
ciples with  courage?  They  would  have  fought 
for  him  like  lions.  If  he  had  allowed  them  to 
use  the  "two  swords"  his  enemies  would  have 
fled,  and  the  populace  on  the  morrow  would 
again  have  acclaimed  him  "king" ;  again  they 
would  have  cried,  "Hosanna ;  blessed  is  the  king 
that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Hosanna 
in  the  highest."  If  his  Father  had  allowed  him 
to  use  the  swords,  he  could  have  made  Israel 
the  dominant  civil  power  of  the  earth.  He 
could  have  subdued  Rome,  destroyed  pagan 
temples,  proclaimed  the  one  Jehovah,  turned 
all  worldly  agencies  and  influences  to  the  side 


66       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  righteousness,  and  made  the  world  again  in 
outward  appearance  like  Paradise.  "The 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them," 
would  have  been  on  the  side  of  Jesus,  with  the 
devil's  help  hardly  visible. 

And  as  Jesus  may  have  thought  of  these 
things,  although  he  knew  well  that  to  continue 
such  a  reign  his  visible  miraculous  leadership 
would  (from  the  human  point  of  view)  be 
needed  forever,  so  that  the  kingdom  within  you 
would  not  so  well  have  developed,  he :  may  have 
thought  that  his  Father's  wisdom  would  in 
some  way  overcome  that  spiritual  difficulty; 
God  undoubtedly  knowing  of  some  other  way  to 
whip  the  world  than  for  "lambs"  to  conquer 
"wolves,"  and  for  "doves"  to  conquer  "ser- 
pents." 

Possibly  with  such  lingering  hope  he  may 
have  departed  from  Jerusalem  for  Gethsemane, 
knowing  his  own  tremendous  influence  with  his 
Father  in  prayer. 

And  yet  it  was  with  sad  depression  of  spirit 
that  he  crossed  the  brook  Kedron,  began  to 
ascend  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  entered  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane,  followed  by  a  band  of 
half-believing,  half-skeptical  men,  who  had  for 
years  been  enthusiastic  adherents,  but,  after 
all,  were  only  human,  and  were  likely  to  for- 
sake him  when  his  power  or  popularity  would 
seem  to  wane.  In  vain  he  said  to  them,  "Let 


OLIVET  67 

not  your  heart  be  troubled."  They  were 
troubled. 

But  though  they  were  men,  they  seemed  to 
be  the  only  companions  available  for  him  that 
evening,  until  he  gained  his  great  spiritual  vic- 
tory over  his  greatest  temptation;  that  in  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane. 

He  left  the  most  of  them,  telling  them  to 
take  their  seats,  while  he  went  still  further 
into  the  Garden  to  pray.  As  he  thus  went 
away  he  asked  Peter,  James  and  John  to  go 
with  him.  Sometimes  he  had  gone  apart  by 
himself  to  pray  to  his  Father,  not  desiring  any 
one  with  him.  He  would  abide  all  night  in 
prayer  to  God.  But  a  greater  trial  was  now 
before  him,  and  he  desired  the  presence  of  those 
he  loved.  Having  loved  his  own,  "he  loved 
them  unto  the  end."  And  he  told  them  his 
heart  was  troubled,  that  it  would  be  so  till  his 
death.  He  asked  them  to  stay  there  and 
watch  with  him.  It  was  only  a  little  thing  for 
him  to  ask. 

Then  he  went  and  prayed  that  prayer  that 
has  penetrated  the  hearts  of  his  followers  for 
two  thousand  years :  "Father,  if  thou  be  will- 
ing, remove  this  cup  from  me:  nevertheless  not 
my  will,  but  thine,  be  done." 

But  how  few  of  us  realize  the  great  burden 
of  that  prayer!  How  the  most  of  us  put  our 
interest  on  the  undeniable  fact  that  Jesus  was 


68       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

offering  to  submit  his  will  to  God's  will !  That 
is  true,  of  course;  no  one  could  deny  it.  But 
that  was  not  what  Jesus  was  especially  pray- 
ing for.  He  was  praying  to  be  freed  from 
drinking  the  cup  of  death,  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  fatal  struggle  with  sin.  Jesus  was  tempted. 
How  often  before  this  he  had  prayed  to  his 
Father  for  the  same  relief  we  do  not  know :  for 
he  often  prayed  alone. 

We  know  that  God  did  not  grant  his  prayer : 
for  though  he  prayed  for  the  "cup"  to  be  "re- 
moved," when  some  time  later  Peter  would  have 
defended  him  against  arrest,  Jesus  said,  "Put 
up  the  sword  into  the  sheath :  the  cup  which  the 
Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?" 

This  shows  that  he  was  compelled  by  God 
to  drink  the  cup;  that  his  prayer  was  not 
granted.  He  was  not  permitted  to  use  the 
"swords." 

Possibly  this  "cup"  was  what  he  referred  to, 
when  he  asked  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  "Are  ye 
able  to  drink  the  cup  that  I  am  about  to  drink  ?" 
when  they  asked  for  prominence  in  his  king- 
dom. And  the  blood  of  the  new  covenant  he 
had  typified  by  the  "cup"  containing  the  fruit 
of  the  vine,  only  a  few  hours  before;  and  that 
"cup"  comes  down  to  us. 

The  temptation  that  Jesus  was  going 
through  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  was  the 
same  one,  only  now  it  was  far  more  intense 


OLIVET  69 

because  of  the  nearness  of  the  time  of  drinking 
the  "cup,"  which  he  experienced  at  the  advice 
of  Peter,  shortly  after  Peter  had  asserted  that 
he  was  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  For  when 
Jesus  showed  his  disciples  that  he  "must  suf- 
fer many  things  of  the  elders  .  .  .  and  be 
killed,"  Peter  took  him  and  began  to  rebuke 
him,  saying,  "Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord:  this 
shall  never  be  unto  thee."  The  temptation  to 
Jesus  was  so  sore  that  he  said  to  Peter,  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan:  thou  art  a  stumbling 
block  unto  me." 

That  cup  God  had  put  to  his  lips:  for  he 
was  to  be  tempted  in  all  points.  And  in  Geth- 
semane  he  prayed  for  the  removal  of  the  cup. 

Gradually  the  consciousness  oppressed  him 
that  God  was  not  granting  the  prayer.  And 
he  "began  to  be  greatly  amazed,"  and  sore 
troubled.  Hitherto  God  had  always  answered 
his  prayers ;  so  that  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus, 
when  he  was  about  to  ask  that  "Lazarus  come 
forth,"  he  prayed  to  his  Father  saying,  "Father, 
I  thank  thee  that  thou  heardest  me.  And  I 
knew  that  thou  nearest  me  always." 

But  men's  prayers  are  not  always  answered: 
for  they  ask  for  things  that  God  does  not  de- 
sire, or  that  may  not  be  for  human  good. 

Jesus  was  now  asking  for  something  that  was 
not  for  human  good,  and  that  God  did  not  de- 
sire; because,  if  granted,  Jesus  could  not  be 


70       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

so  "highly  exalted."  And  God  loved  Jesus  so 
much  that  he  wished  "that  in  all  things  he 
might  have  the  preeminence"  (Col.  1:18). 

Hence  Jesus  prays  in  vain :  a  new  experience. 

To  pray  to  his  Father  in  vain  is  torture  to 
the  Son  of  God ;  and  he  sweats  great  drops  of 
blood.  The  disciples  see  the  crimson  sweat, 
from  their  little  distance,  before  they  fall 
asleep.  For  Jesus  keeps  on  praying  and  ag- 
onizing. He  knows  how  to  pray:  to  ask  for 
the  things  he  needs;  that  he  desires  the  most. 
His  suffering  becomes  so  grievous  that  he  prays 
to  be  delivered  from  the  hour  itself.  He  cries 
out,  "Abba,  all  things  are  possible  unto  thee; 
remove  this  cup  from  me."  It  was  the  "be- 
loved Son,"  God's  boy,  saying,  "Papa,  please" ; 
or,  "Please,  Papa."  ("Though  he  was  a  Son, 
yet  he  learned  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered."— Heb.  5:  8.) 

The  disciples  enter  into  his  sorrow,  though 
they  do  not  understand  its  cause ;  but  his 
prayer  is  repeated  so  monotonously,  so  wearily, 
that  their  eyes  grow  heavy,  and  they  fall 
asleep,  though  he  had  asked  them  to  watch. 
Heaven  seems  distant.  He  comes  for  com- 
panionship to  the  disciples,  and  finds  them 
sleeping.  He  wakes  them,  and  reproaches 
them.  He  had  only  been  praying  an  hour ;  and 
could  they  "not  watch  one  hour"  ?  It  was  only 
a  little  thing  he  thought  he  was  asking  of  men. 


OLIVET  71 

They  neglected  him.  He  had  been  asking  a 
little  thing  of  his  Father.  And  God  seemed  to 
neglect  him. 

But  one  hour  is  not  long  to  pray  to  God. 
Jesus  had  often  prayed  all  night.  So  he  goes 
back  and  prays  again :  the  same  monotonous 
prayer.  How  his  holy  spirit  revolted  at  the 
coming  accusations  against  him !  How  his 
heavenly  experience  abhorred  the  earth  ex- 
perience! In  agony  he  asks  if  "his  soul  must 
be  poured  out  unto  death,  and  he  be  numbered 
with  transgressors. "  Must  he  "be  led  as  a 
lamb  to  the  slaughter"?  Must  his  soul  be 
"made  an  offering  for  sin"?  Must  he  bear  so 
much;  must  God  make  him  suffer  a  burden  so 
heavy  that  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  sinners  and 
criminals  of  all  mankind,  for  all  the  ages,  had 
been  combining  and  concentrating  their  malig- 
nant depravity  in  the  coming  crime  to  be 
worked  on  him ;  "the  iniquity  of  us  all"  ? 

"Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass 
from  me." 

But  the  two  beings  in  this  case  were  of  like 
nature;  they  were  divine.  Therefore  the  Son 
says,  "not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done." 

He  returns  to  his  disciples.  He  is  bewil- 
dered at  the  dullness  of  the  ear  of  his  Father. 
A  third  time  he  goes  to  pray.  He  gives  it  up. 
He  fully  surrenders  his  will  to  God,  as  he  said, 
and  as  he  intended  if  God  would  not  yield,  and 


72       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

as  God  knew  he  would.  And  how  quickly  an 
angel  comes  to  strengthen  him  for  drinking 
the  cup,  to  be  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  heavenly 
victim  furnished  by  heaven  in  the  "new  cove- 
nant," made  strong  and  mighty  by  his  blood! 

O  mount  of  sadness,  thou  Mount  of  Olives! 
There  Jesus  had  to  pray  and  watch  alone. 

But  Mount  Calvary  was  hospitable ;  there 
thieves  suffered  along  with  Jesus ;  and  there  a 
centurion  kept  guard;  there  the  citizens  of 
Jerusalem  "gaped  upon"  him ;  there  the  riff-raff 
of  the  city  and  the  rabble  of  the  country,  as 
they  passed  by,  reviled  him ;  and  the  priests  sat 
down  "and  watched  him  there."  But  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives  Jesus  had  to  pray  and  watch 
alone.  Elijah  was  "left  alone"  (Rom.  11:3). 

O  mountain  of  sadness,  thou  Mount  of 
Olives ! 

Does  this  mean  that  every  great  life  is  a 
tragedy  ? 

No:  for  God  is  good.  Unto  Jesus,  the 
Mount  of  Olives  became  the  mount  of  ascen- 
sion. Because  weeks  after  he  rose  from  the 
dead  he  led  his  disciples  out  to  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  and  while  he  was  instructing  them,  and 
reproving  them,  and  commanding  them,  and 
loving  them,  and  restraining  them,  and  bless- 
ing them,  he  ascended  from  their  midst  to  a 
better  home  than  earth;  and  angels  explained 
to  them  that  he  would  come  again.  They 


OLIVET  73 

should    see   him    once    more,    when    their    eyes 
would  not  be  sleepy. 

Thou  Mount  of  Olives,  thou  art  not  a  moun- 
tain of  sadness.  Thou  art  a  mountain  of  ex- 
planation. During  the  weeks  that  had  passed 
since  the  rising  of  Jesus  from  the  dead,  so  near 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  surely  his  pierced,  but 
healed  and  immortal,  feet  must  often  have  been 
attracted  to  the  accustomed  and  loved  paths  of 
the  mountain  where  some  of  his  joys  and  sorrows 
had  been  felt.  And  if,  O  Olivet,  near  thy  lower 
slope  on  the  western  side,  his  disciple  Judas 
betrayed  him,  on  thy  height  he  ascended  from 
the  midst  of  his  faithful  apostles ;  which  made 
the  Mount  of  Olives  no  longer  a  mount  of  sad- 
ness, but  a  mount  of  illumination. 


CALVARY 

CAUSE  OF  THE  CRY,  "ELOI" 

No  man  knows  the  exact  location  of  Mount 
Calvary.  We  only  assume  that  it  was  a  hill, 
because  of  the  word  Golgotha,  mentioned  by 
Matthew,  Mark  and  John,  as  meaning  "the 
place  of  a  skull."  And  yet  that  word  may  re- 
fer only  to  some  protruding  rock,  or  to  some 
association  of  thought  created  by  executions 
of  criminals  at  that  place.  The  phrase 
"Mount  Calvary"  is  not  Biblical;  but  came 
into  use  in  the  sixth  century. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  exact  location 
is  unknown :  for  a  generation  later  the  city  was 
destroyed  by  the  Romans;  and  centuries  later 
the  Emperor  Hadrian  took  care  to  inclose  the 
reconstructed  city  with  walls  built  along  lines 
different  from  the  former  ones,  with  a  view  to 
obliterating  traces  of  historical  localities. 

Therefore  all  that  we  can  reasonably  say  as 
to  the  location  of  Calvary  is  that  it  was  prob- 
ably on  the  northwestern  side  of  the  city  of 
Jerusalem,  close  to  the  city  entrance,  and  by  a 
highway  leading  in  from  the  country. 

This  obscuring  of  the  location  of  the  ma- 
terial Calvary  harmonizes  with  the  administra- 
tion of  God  concerning  some  other  material 
74 


CALVARY  75 

things.  Of  Jesus  himself,  no  picture  was  left. 
No  description  of  his  person,  or  physical 
habits,  was  attempted  by  either  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  or  John.  Even  concerning  the 
crucifixion  we  are  left  in  ignorance  as  to  some 
physical  points.  Not  one  of  the  writers  makes 
any  attempt  to  describe,  or  comment  on,  the 
scene.  They  simply  relate  the  history  as  wit- 
nesses. They  make  no  appeal  for  pity  for 
Jesus.  They  do  not  even  hint  that  the  place 
was  sacred. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  how  God  concealed 
the  grave  of  Moses,  how  even  the  mountain 
where  he  died  cannot  positively  be  identified? 
how,  also,  we  are  not  sure  of  the  place  of 
Mount  Hor,  where  Aaron  died?  how  the  gar- 
den of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  the  place  of  Jesus' 
burial  and  resurrection,  though  said  to  be  near 
to  Calvary,  is  not  truly  identified?  Have  you 
ever  noticed  how  the  bread  and  wine  of  the 
communion,  which  Jesus  himself  made  symbolic 
of  Calvary's  central  event,  so  little  resemble  a 
dying  body  and  flowing  blood,  that  we  natu- 
rally, and  without  effort  to  reason  upon  it, 
recognize  the  symbol  as  symbol?  Have  you 
noticed  how  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes  (where 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  delivered)  and 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  are  not  geo- 
graphically located  by  the  Gospels?  Have 
you  noticed  that  not  one  of  the  Bible  writers 


76       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

mentions  how  tall  Jesus  was?  what  was  his 
weight?  or  what  his  complexion?  or  the  tone  of 
his  voice?  or  its  music,  or  power? 

Why  have  you  not  noticed  these  things*  if 
you  are  familiar  with  the  second  command- 
ment: "Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee 
any  likeness  of  anything  that  is  in 
heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath: 
thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them*  nor 
serve  them"? 

Is  it  not  evident  that  God  was  guiding  his 
historians,  often  preventing  their  leaving  data 
for  relic  worship  and  other  forms  of  idolatry? 

If  you  have  never  thought  of  these  things  in 
their  mutual  relation,  then  be  impressed  with 
the  following: — (1)  For  500  years  from  the 
death  of  Christ,  the  followers  of  Jesus  had  no 
such  thing  as  a  modern  crucifix.  WSth  all 
their  love  of  the  cross,  they  placed  no  image  of 
Jesus  on  it;  (£)  The  early  Christians  were  so 
superior  to  the  physical  idolatry  of  our  age, 
that  the  first  known  painting  of  the  crucifixion 
of  Christ  appears  not  before  the  year  586. 
And  about  that  time,  under  the  decrees  of  the 
Roman  Emperor  Justinian  the  Great,  the  true 
church  of  the  Lord  disappeared  from  civiliza- 
tion, and  "fled  into  the  wilderness."  The 
sculptures  of  the  crucifixion*  the  picturing  of 
the  tortured  Lord,  or  the  picturing  of  the 
descent  of  the  dead  body,  as  well  as  the  pictur- 


CALVARY  77 

ing  of  his  fainting  under  the  cross  previously, 
are  all  foreign  to  the  spiritual  practices  of  the 
early  Christians.  And  yet  they  felt  that  the 
cross  had  been  transformed  by  what  happened 
on  Calvary,  from  an  emblem  of  shame  to  a  sign 
of  glory.  They  worshiped  in  spirit.  It  was 
not  necessary  for  them  to  bow  down  before  an 
image,  however  impressive  to  a  beholder  the 
simulated  crown  of  thorns  might  be.  They 
made  no  pilgrimages  to  Pilate's  judgment  seat, 
to  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes,  nor  Mount  Cal- 
vary. They  worshiped  in  spirit. 

They  realized  that  the  only  way  to  get  to 
Calvary  was  to  deny  themselves,  and  bear  the 
burdens  of  practical  life,  under  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.  And  now  to  get  to  Cal- 
vary, you  must  bear  your  cross. 

Calvary  may  have  been  only  a  "place  of  a 
skull"  to  the  thronging  Jews  in  Bible  times, 
hardly  as  high  as  the  city  walls ;  but  it  was  so 
high  historically,  morally  and  spiritually,  that 
its  physical  proportions  never  seem  to  have 
been  measured  by  the  disciples,  who  alone 
would  have  cared  to  tell  us  the  truth.  It  may 
then  have  been  only  a  "place  of  a  skull,"  in 
passing  which,  the  travelers  entering  the  city 
were  accustomed  to  jeer  the  executed  victims 
of  Roman  justice  or  Jewish  cruelty;  but  near 
it  was  a  garden  all  glorious  with  flowers  of 
love,  faith  and  hope,  because  there  Jesus  rose 


78       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

from  the  dead.  Death  was  on  the  way  to  the 
resurrection;  the  "skull"  was  on  the  way  to 
the  lilies ;  Calvary  was  on  the  way  to  the  gar- 
den; the  "darkness  over  the  whole  land  until 
the  ninth  hour"  was  on  the  way  to  the  resur- 
rection brightness ;  the  evening  was  on  the  way 
to  the  morning. 

Calvary  was  a  peculiar  mountain.  Its  top 
might  be  called  "a  skull,"  or  a  cross,  or  a  bed, 
or  a  throne.  Jesus'  cross  became  a  symbol  of 
character ;  and  though  it  was  a  grievous  dying 
bed,  it  really  became  a  throne.  So  that  the 
disciples  of  the  Lord  were  never  heard  plead- 
ing for  pity  for  him  as  crucified  victim;  but 
Paul  exultingly  exclaimed,  "God  forbid  that 
I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified 
unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world."  And  the 
throne  room  of  this  crucifixion  glory  was  Cal- 
vary. 

Jesus  himself  imparted  this  spirit  unto  his 
disciples.  When  he  was  going  to  Calvary,  he 
said  to  the  Jewesses  of  the  city,  "Daughters 
of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me;  but  weep  for 
yourselves  and  your  children."  And  after  he 
had  passed  Calvary,  to  Mary,  in  the  garden  of 
resurrection,  who  did  not  yet  know  that  he  had 
risen,  he  said,  "Woman,  why  weepest  thou?" 
And  that  afternoon,  to  the  disciples  dismally 
wending  their  way  to  Emmaus,  he  said, 


CALVARY  79 

"Ought  not  Christ  to  have  suffered  and  to  enter 
into  his  glory?" 

Break  away  for  a  moment  from  the  spiritual 
attraction  of  Calvary,  and  look  at  it  as  a  ma- 
terial, historical  mountain. 

Calvary  is  remarkable,  as  we  have  pointed 
out,  in  that  no  man  knows  its  exact  spot ;  al- 
though it  is  most  intimately  connected  his- 
torically with  the  success  of  the  great  founder 
of  a  great  religion. 

Calvary  is  peculiar,  as  a  place  of  forgive- 
ness. Jesus  said,  of  the  impenitent,  "Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  He  said,  to  the  penitent,  "To-day  shalt 
thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise." 

Calvary  was  an  assembly  place  of  mixed  so- 
ciety. There  were  priests  there ;  soldiers ; 
countrymen ;  women,  who  had  followed  Jesus 
from  Galilee,  ministering  to  him ;  gamblers ; 
members  of  the  sanhedrin  (the  most  dignified 
and  celebrated  religious  body  of  the  world)  ; 
loafers,  loungers  along  the  highway,  deriding 
the  victims  they  saw  at  the  "place  of  a  skull" ; 
Mary,  the  mother  of  the  Lord ;  criminals,  cru- 
cified with  him ;  rich  men,  who  buried  him ;  high 
ecclesiastics,  who  were  watching  against  fraud 
or  rescue ;  timid  disciples  ;  scribes  ;  pagans ; 
Jews ;  Christians ;  and  the  "Lord  of  glory." 

Calvary  was  a  place  of  peculiar  family 
grouping  as  to  relation.  Jesus  said  to  John, 


80       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

"Son,  behold  thy  mother";  and  to  Mary, 
"Woman,  behold  thy  son."  A  few  hours  later, 
Jesus  looked  up  to  heaven  and  said,  "It  is  fin- 
ished. Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my 
spirit."  From  that  day  John  took  care  of 
Mary,  and  God  took  care  of  Jesus.  (We  men- 
tion this,  because  from  that  hour  there  was 
no  more  humiliation  for  Jesus.  He  was  even 
taken  down  from  the  cross  and  buried  by 
wealthy  men,  and  they  richly  embalmed  his 
body.) 

Though  Calvary  is  on  the  way  over  the 
"great  divide"  separating  earth  from  the  River 
of  Life,  and  though  on  mountain  sides  there 
are  usually  springs  of  water  and  gurgling 
brooks,  the  traveler  on  this  "narrow  way," 
climbing  the  heights  toward  the  crown  of  im- 
mortality, finds  the  mountain  parched  and 
desert.  Jesus  said,  "I  thirst."  (I  think  he 
said  it  in  Greek.  Notice  the  contraction,  and 
the  one  word.)  Calvary  was  harder  for  Jesus 
to  climb,  than  Nebo  was  for  Moses.  In  his 
journey  the  Christian  will  find  some  spot,  close 
to  the  center  of  popular  interest,  with  the  ad- 
vantages of  civilization,  where  art  and  culture 
are  at  hand,  but  where  the  thirsty  sufferer, 
needing  something  more  refreshing  than  ecclesi- 
astical organization,  grand  organ  music,  es- 
say sermons,  operatic  anthems,  stained  glass 
windows,  impressive  liturgy,  and  prestige  of 


CALVARY  81 

wealth  or  society,  will  have  nothing  better  of- 
fered to  him  than  the  sour  drink  of  official 
proclamation,  commandment,  provision,  or 
call:  for  when  Jesus  said,  "I  thirst,"  we  lemrn 
that  "soldiers  also  mocked  him,  coming  to  him, 
offering  him  vinegar." 

Ah!  Calvary  is  a  barren  spot.  It  is  wise  to 
come  to  it  with  spiritual  provisions,  or  with 
strength  based  on  the  food  of  God's  truth. 

But  if  Calvary  is  a  barren  spot  as  to  earthly 
supplies,  it  is  a  mountain  so  lofty,  so  near  to 
Him  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,  that 
it  was  long  visible  to  seers,  though  they  could 
not  understand  it  all.  Calvary  was  so  high 
that  the  Sweet  Singer  of  Israel,  looking  for- 
ward a  thousand  years,  saw  it,  foretold  it,  and 
described  it.  But  I  think  that  even  he  did  not 
understand  it.  As  historians  look  back  on  it, 
the  prophet  looked  forward  to  it.  We  do  not 
understand  it  all  yet. 

When  Jesus  heard  the  mockery  of  the  chief 
priests  and  scribes  (learned  in  the  Scriptures) 
on  Calvary,  crying  up  to  him,  "If  thou  art  the 
Son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross,"  he 
answered  at  the  proper  moment  in  Scripture 
language,  not  in  pitiful  wail,  but  with  thunder 
voice,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  "Eloi,  Eloi, 
lama  sabachthani."  .  .  .  Thus  Jesus  by 
four  words  transformed  Calvary  into  the 
needed  key  to  unlock  the  mystery  of  prophecy. 


82       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

But  mere  translation  does  not  unlock  it. 
Soon  he  died;  but  his  thunder  cry,  "Eloi, 
Eloi,  lama  sabachthani,"  still  echoed  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Jews  familiar  with  their  Scrip- 
tures :  for  he  had  quoted  "with  a  great  sound" 
in  their  own  Hebrew  language  the  first  words 
of  the  &2d  psalm,  containing  the  language  of 
David  in  prophecy,  which  they  all  believed  re- 
ferred to  the  Christ  that,  when  the  prophecy 
was  written,  David  saw  in  the  distant  future. 
And  many  of  the  scribes,  priests,  and  Jews,  of 
that  vast  multitude  must  have  recalled  the 
words  of  that  psalm: — 

"Eloi,  Eloi,  lama  sabachthani.     .     .     . 

"All  they  that  see  me  laugh  me  to  scorn.     .     .     . 

"There  is  none  to  help.     .     .     . 

"Many  bulls  have  compassed  me.     .     .     . 

"They  gape  upon  me  with  their  mouths.     .     .     . 

"My  tongue  cleaveth  to  my  jaws.     .     .  f  . 

"Dogs  have  compassed  me: 

A  company  of  evil-doers  have  inclosed  me; 

They  pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet. 
They  look  and  stare  upon  me. 
They  parted  my  garments   among  them, 
And  upon  my  vesture  do  they  cast  lots." 

And  when  the  younger  priests  and  scribes  re- 
called those  words  of  the  psalm,  written  con- 
fessedly (even  in  our  day)  a  thousand  years 
previous  to  the  event  on  Calvary,  .  .  .  . 


CALVARY  83 

those  words  of  the  psalm,  brought  to  their  rec- 
ollection by  the  great  voice  of  Jesus  before 
his  death,  they  knew  that  Calvary  was  only  a 
station  on  the  great  highway  of  righteousness, 
which  their  Messiah  was  traveling  straight 
from  the  desert  of  earth  to  the  metropolis  of 
God.  And  when  the  rich  men,  Joseph  and 
Nicodemus,  took  the  body  down  and  buried 
Jesus,  the  older  hardened  priests  went  to  Pilate 
and  warned  him  against  any  possibility  of 
blunder  by  leaving  the  grave  unguarded;  in 
which  case,  as  they  said,  "The  last  error  will  be 
worse  than  the  first." 

That  showed  that  they  then  knew  they  had 
made  a  mistake. 

That  cry  of  Jesus  made  Calvary  a  mountain 
of  prophecy;  so  that  the  Jews  recognized  that 
they  had  crucified  their  Christ.  And  when,  a 
few  days  later,  the  report  spread  about  the 
city  that  the  disciples  claimed  that  he  had  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  that  they  had  seen  him, 
Jerusalem  was  stunned;  and  honest  people 
waited  in  dread.  They  feared  lest  Calvary 
had  become  for  the  Hebrew  nation  the  portal 
to  Sheol. 

More  days  and  weeks  passed.  If  there  had 
been  the  least  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  the 
disciples,  that  would  have  been  the  time  when 
vigorous  concerted  movement  on  their  part  for 


84       MOUNTAINS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

their  own  benefit  would  have  been  made.  They 
would  have  made  effort  for  place,  position,  or 
advantage.  They  might  have  worked  on  the 
fears  of  the  superstitious  Pilate,  to  secure  po- 
litical preferment.  Other  efforts  might  have 
been  exerted  for  their  own  worldly  interest. 

But  there  was  no  fraud  on  their  part.  And 
it  is  evident  that  they  had  no  plan  of  campaign 
whatever.  Nothing  had  been  done  by  them  for 
effect.  Running  to  the  sepulchre  on  the  resur- 
rection morning,  when  they  heard  the  reports 
of  the  women ;  gathering  that  night  in  a  closed 
room  for  fear  of  the  Jews ;  going  off  about 
their  business  to  Emmaus ;  or,  half  dazed,  go- 
ing fishing  to  Galilee  or  elsewhere,  they  were 
like  sheep,  fleeing  here  and  there:  and  were 
only  rounded  up  by  the  voice  of  their  risen 
Shepherd,  expostulating,  "O  fools,  and  slow  of 
heart  to  believe,"  proving  to  them  his  bodily 
presence,  and  finally  commanding  them  to 
"tarry  in  Jerusalem,  till  they  were  endued  with 
power  from  on  high." 

They  were  thus  to  "tarry"  near  to  Calvary ; 
near  to  Gethsemane ;  near  to  the  Mount  of 
Olives ;  near  to  the  Roman  barracks ;  near  to 
the  headquarters  of  the  priesthood;  near  to 
the  garden  where  Jesus  had  been  buried;  near 
to  all  the  sources  of  information  for  investiga- 
tion, and  near  to  the  commanding  influences  of 
opposition. 


CALVAY-., 

And  the  sheep  obeyed  their  shepherd. 
They  stayed  right  there,  near  the  wolves,  near 
to  Calvary,  where  the  wolves  had  mangled  the 
Lamb  of  God. 

But  now  mark : — A  few  days  more,  and  these 
frightened  disciples,  on  the  streets  of  Jerusa- 
lem, proclaimed  the  victim  of  Calvary  to  be  the 
Christ  of  the  Jewish  race.  And  the  effect  of 
their  preaching,  following  the  thunder-cry  of 
Jesus  from  his  Calvary  throne,  "Eloi,  Eloi, 
lama  sabachthani,"  was  that  three  thousand 
Jews,  on  the  first  day  of  the  preaching,  ac- 
cepted him  as  their  Lord,  Savior,  King  and 
Christ. 

There  is  no  explanation  of  this  tremendous 
change,  except  the  truth,  accepted  under  the 
influence  of  the  great  prophecy  called  to  their 
recollection  by  Jesus*  dying  cry,  deepened  by 
the  rumor  of  his  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
and  the  investigations  concerning  it  for  more 
than  a  month. 

And  yet  all  of  them,  preachers  and  converts, 
were  under  the  shadow  of  Calvary. 

Ah!  Calvary,  thou  art  a  lowly  hill;  but  thy 
summit  is  not  far  from  the  garden  of  Joseph, 
the  "counselor  of  honorable  estate,  who  also 
himself  was  looking  for  the  kingdom  of  God." 
.  .  .  .  Calvary,  thou  art  a  lowly  hill ;  but 
thou  art  the  vestibule  to  Paradise  (the  garden 
of  God.) 


"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days  that 
the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  estab- 
lished in  the  tops  of  the  mountains  and  be  exalted 
above  the  hills;  and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it." 

Amen. 


UNIVEESITY   OF   CALIFOKNIA   LEBEAEY, 
BEEKELEY 

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11  1930 


EEC.  tii 


6 


50m-7,'29 


YB  71926 


304104 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


